Time-tables during the peak period of the railway (1900-1914) show fifteen trains 'up' and fourteen trains 'down', of which two were goods working only.
The 7-25 Newport to Wolverton had six coaches instead of the normal two, being the workmens' train, and similarly the return train from Wolverton at 5-45 pm. The carriage lighting was so poor that passengers had to hold candles in order to read their newspapers! There was a coach works at Wolverton, known as the Wolverton Works.
Extra coaches were run in the 1 890's and 1 900's to take people from Bradwell and Linford to market in Newport on Wednesdays, and also to Wolverton market.
A siding of 117 yards ran from New Bradwell to Wylies' Lime Works, which was opened in 1870, and this remained in operation for some time after the line closed. The junction of this could be seen from the New Bradwell railway bridge, and a grassy track between hedges still remains in places.
It was said that an early petrol-electric 'motor-train was experimentally run on the line in 1902, but there is very little evidence. What is certain is that at one time the train was fitted with air-operated remote control, so that the driver could sit in the end coach and operate the steam regulator on the loco remotely . (The fireman of course, had still to stoke the boiler from his normal position on the footplate). This saved the engine being 'run round' the train at the end of each trip, and was sometimes referred to as a 'motor-train'.
There was a working engine-shed at Newport, where the loco was kept at night. One true story still remembered is of an occasion when the station staff omitted to switch the points from the shed to the main track, and the train ran down the engine-shed siding, through the back of the shed and was derailed...
One of the earliest known locomotives was a Webb Coal Tank 0-6-2. No.58887(probably the first one to be called 'Nobby' because of a large steam-dome). Subsequently, the train was drawn by a Fowler 2-6-2T. and later an Ivatt 2--6-2T. Nearer today, a Stanier 2-6-4T and a BR standard type 2-6-4T, No.80040. The last train from Newport was drawn by 2-6-2 tanker No.41222.