The work committed the company to considerable unforeseen expenditure and a further Act of 22 June 1863 obtained authorisation to take an additional £40,000 share capital. Rectification was put in hand, and on 30 June 1863 Col Yolland inspected the line. He was not entirely satisfied, but he reluctantly gave approval. The first trains ran on 3 July 1863. There were four trains each way daily and two in Sundays. The journey time of 50 minutes was reduced to 40 minutes from 1 August 1863. There were minimal goods facilities at the beginning. Income for the first quarter year (to 30 September 1863) was £1,221, of which £359 was from goods traffic. Goods trains caused congestion on the single line, and the board decided that a passing loop at Hadham was required; expenditure of £220 was authorised 24 May 1865; the work was to be done by the GER at the Buntingford company's expense. Braughing followed as a crossing point in 1892. The line was expensive to build and only completed with finance from the Eastern Counties Railway and its successor company (from 1862), the Great Eastern Railway. The capital subscribed including GER subscription was £106,871 and there were outstanding liabilities of £50,000 and a debenture debt of £29,403. This state of affairs could hardly continue long, and the company wrote to the GER on 21 June 1865, asking them to take over the line. The board admitted that they were "not yet in a state to pay a dividend". Walter Bentinck had debenture bonds due on 10 February 1866. The company was unable to pay, and Bentinck took them to the Court of Chancery where he obtained judgment in his favour for £3,039, "payable in land if not in cash". The company had no cash and no spare land, so the matter escalated, and in the end the GER paid Bentinck in order to settle the matter in November 1866. On 7 March 1867, the GER, realising that the initiative rested with it, wrote to the company suggesting absorption. Its motivation was that the Great Northern Railway might get control of the Buntingford company and use it to gain entry into GER territory. Shareholders of the Buntingford Company met on 26 March 1867 and voted in favour of selling to the GER; the deed of transfer was ratified on 30 July 1868, effective on 1 September 1868. Due to poor usage, Widford station was closed after 31 Dec 1868 but a petition was raised locally and it reopened on 1 April 1869.