​​There were local freight workings between Ravenstone Wood Junction and Towcester until 31 May 1952 when the sidings at Stoke Bruerne were closed. The working timetable in September 1951 showed three daily freight workings that crossed the SMJR line eastwards to Olney, arriving at 09.03, 13.20 and 14.57, the latter normally consisting of 'empties' (of what kind is not specified) for Turvey. There were four workings in the opposite direction. Most of the freight trains were handled by 0-6-0s from Stratford (21D) shed until it closed in February 1953 following the withdrawal of passenger trains to and from Blisworth the previous April. The last allocation at Stratford consisted of 3Fs 43520/68 and 43873, and 4Fs 44043, 44186, 44242, 44524 and 44567. Subsequently most trains were worked by engines from Gloucester or Bedford.

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The line from Ravenstone Wood to Towcester remained open to through traffic until 22 June 1958 shortly before it was cut during the construction of the M1 Motorway, after which freight traffic at Olney was confined to local workings, which continued after the cessation of passenger traffic but came to an end on 6 January 1964. Traffic to the Yardley Chase depot was subsequently worked from Northampton. Maurice Jeyes, who worked on the line as a footplate man, recalled that traffic was busy until the SMJR link was closed. Nevertheless the singling of the track in 1952 suggests a decline in freight working. From 1952 trains in the Turvey direction used the up line while the down line was used for carriage storage. A photograph of 1962 shows non-corridor coaches stored in the sidings at Olney.

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A photograph taken on 6 February 1951 shows a 4F 0-6-0 working a train of more than 17 wagons towards Bedford through flooded meadows near Olney. Another, taken on 17 July 1957, shows a long eastbound train of four-wheel vans headed by 43873 crossing the West Coast Main Line at Roade. Tony Foster recalls that in the mid-1950s trains from the SMJR almost always changed engines at Olney. Usually a 4F 0-6-0 from Gloucester (22B) or Bristol (22A) gave way to a similar locomotive from Cricklewood (14A). Riley and Simpson provide a photograph which makes it possible precisely to replicate an SMJ line freight train of the 1950s. It shows the 10.35 class 'H' from Clifford Sidings to Olney near Byfield on 5 April 1958. Headed by 4F No 44491 it consisted of a BR standard 16-ton steel-bodied loaded coal wagon, 3 wooden-bodied ex-private owners' coal wagons, also loaded, two LOWMACs (or equivalents), two 12-ton vans, the second of them probably ex-Southern Railway, three or four further coal wagons, and a standard ex-LMSR brake van. No 44491 was a long-term Northampton engine, and appears to be carrying a 2E shed plate. Its smokebox was tarred over suggesting a recent overhaul at Derby.

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Local pick-up goods trains served Olney and other intermediate stations in the post-nationalisation period. Maurice Jeyes worked on 3Fs 3474 and 3729 and 4F 3967 in 1947-49. A photograph of 25 July 1959 shows 3F 0-6-0 43665 on a short goods train near Newton Blossomville bound for Bedford that included some Presflo hopper wagons, used to convey cement for building the M1 Motorway. Such wagons were carried on the pick-up goods for some years, but we do not currently know where they were unloaded. The pick-up goods also delivered coal wagons to local coal agents. Ellis & Everard were the only coal merchants to have a hut carrying their name in the coal yard. Other merchants were small-scale local operators who might take many days to unload a wagon. Tony Foster recalls that cattle traffic in the late, 1950s was infrequent and that cattle would be loaded or unloaded at the dock only about six times a year. Traffic for the NAAFI depot at Turvey doubtless continued and it remains to be discovered whether this was carried in distinctive vehicles. Some traffic to Yardley Wood continued, although Tony Foster who worked at Olney station suggests that it was modest in scale, and usually consisted of a few ordinary vans each containing a small amount of cordite.

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Some larger engines appeared at Olney during and after the Second World War. From 7 April 1945 workings by Stanier 8F class 2-8-0s on military specials are recorded in the registers of Ravenstone Wood signal box, and a Stanier 'Black Five' 5MT 4-6-0 No 5269 handled the 03.05 Bedford-Stratford freight train on 15 May 1945. Maurice Jeyes fired 8F 2-8-0 8006 on a freight train from Bedford to Stratford on 16 May 1946. Another 'Black Five' No 4840 was observed at the Burton Dassett WD sidings on 29 January 1946. Three munitions trains from Yardley Chase were headed by Class 8F 2-8-0s on 18 June 1952. Locomotives crossing the bridge over the West Coast Main Line at Roade on 11 August 1954 included Bristol-based 4Fs 44317 and 44355, and 8F 2-8-0 48699 from Wellingborough. A 'Black Five' No 44691 was photographed at Turvey in March 1962 with a brake van heading towards Oakley Junction. The line from Ravenstone Wood to Towcester remained open to through traffic until 22 June 1958, shortly before it was cut during the construction of the M1 motorway. Freight traffic at Olney was subsequently confined to local workings.

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In the late 1950s and early 60s there was a regular working on Fridays of trains of track with concrete sleepers carried on bogie wagons. They were usually headed by pairs of class 8F 2-8-0s, but in the last years of the workings some class 9F 2-10-0s were used. An 8F No 48616, was heading such a train when it crashed into stored passenger coaches near Turvey on 31 July 1960. Local freight services continued after the cessation of passenger traffic, but came to an end on 6 January 1964, after which traffic to the depot at Yardley Chase was worked from Northampton.

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In the post-war period the line was certainly used for specials carrying recently-recruited National Service RAF personnel from the base at Henlow to Bridgnorth or to West Kirby in the Wirral, some of which passed through Olney to Hardingstone Junction and Northampton, although others appear to have travelled along the SMJR to Broom Junction en route to Bridgnorth. The regular train carried the reporting number M785 and in 1951 was almost always headed by Bedford-based 4F 0-6-0 No 43876, but 'Black Five' No 44888 worked the train on 11 September 1951. It was the usual practice for 4Fs from Bedford to be replaced by 'Black Fives' at Northampton. In later years troop trains were often double-headed and locomotives used included Standard Class 4MT 4-6-0s, 3F and 4F 0-6-0s, 'Black Five' Class 5MT 4-6-0s, and Fowler, Stanier, Fairburn and Standard Class 4MT 2-6-4Ts. One 23 October 1955 a 4P class compound 4-4-0 No 41186 from Southport worked an RAF special from Henlow to West Kirby after it had spent the previous day at Northampton shed. On 27 August 1957 the 11.20 ex Henlow to Bridgnorth passed through with Stanier 6P5F 2-6-0 No 42951 from Aston shed, and on 16 September of that year the same working was headed by 'Crab' 6P5F 2-6-0 No 42854 from Nuneaton.

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The line through Olney was regularly used in the mid-1950s by summer Saturday trains from coastal resorts to Coventry the 11.11 ex-Portsmouth Harbour (M969) and the 09.33 ex-Hastings (M970). The trains were usually hauled by 4F class 0-6-0s and were not booked to call at Olney, running non-stop between Luton and Northampton.

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Excursion trains continued to use the line through Olney in the post-war years. Trains from St Pancras for Towcester races ran regularly on Easter Mondays. Class 4F 0-6-0 No 43876 was photographed on such a train (reporting number M779) waiting to leave Towcester in 1949 or 1950. There were occasional excursions from Luton to Stratford and from Stratford to London. A football excursion from Luton to Birmingham on 25 January 1954 consisted of 12 well-filled coaches including a cafeteria car, and was headed by 4F No 43935 and 4MT No 43019. On 14 September 1957 3F 0-6-0 passed Ravenstone Wood Junction in the Bedford direction with a return excursion carrying Luton Town supporters from a match at Villa Park. It may well have been assisting the train engine. Another memorable occasion was the passage on 7 January 1961 of a Northampton-Luton football special of at least eight coaches double-headed by 45533 Lord Rathmore and 4F 44219. A particularly notable event was the passage of ex-Great Western diesel railcar No W16 on 23 October 1953 carrying members of the literary section of the Solihull Society of Arts to St Pancras via Stratford-upon-Avon, Olney and Bedford. A second working by an ex-GWR railcar apparently took place on 24 July 1954. The railcar was booked to run from Paddington to Olney carrying the 'City Opera Club'. By repute it arrived at Blisworth from the SMJR line (it could not have arrived from the Banbury direction, but only from Woodford, Fenny Compton or Stratford). It then proceeded through Northampton to Hardingstone Junction and Olney.

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Several railtours visited the line in the 1950s including one carrying the reporting number W710 organised by the Birmingham Locomotive Club on 14 July 1951, which was photographed at Salcey Forest with Class 4F 0-6-0 44057 hauling four LMS coaches. The train left New Street station at 08.23 and travelled through Coventry, Warwick and Weedon to Northampton for a visit to the engine shed. The train then travelled to Olney where it had to await the arrival of the push-and-pull service from Bedford to Northampton. A report on the excursion (see article bellow) mentions 'the utter amazement of the local inhabitants awaiting their train'. Presumably the engine was turned, and the train then went via Ravenstone Wood Junction and Towcester to Woodford, where the engine shed was visited, and tea was taken in the station refreshment room. After leaving Woodford and passing Fenny Compton a stop was made near Burton Dassett to enable inspection of the railway installations at the military depot, and a final halt was made at the engine shed at Stratford before the train continued to New Street via Broom Junction.