‘The Stratford Upon Avon & Midland Junction Railway’ (or S.M.J.) was a small independent railway company which ran a line across the empty, untouched centre of England. It visited the counties of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Oxfordshire and a little of Buckinghamshire, only existing as the SMJ from 1909 to 1923. In 1923 the S.M.J.became a minor arm of the London Midland and Scottish (L.M.S.), then in 1948 'British Railways'

Gone but not forgotten: "the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth"

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Line Speed 4 Replies

Probably a question or an answer that is on here somewhere and I have missed it, but what was the line running speed? Always get the impression that the trains dawdled along rather than made any great progress.Continue

Started by Gary. Last reply by Dick Bodily Feb 1.

Interesting Ebay item 1 Reply

Thanks to Gary for the heads up!https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F254054775180AndyContinue

Tags: offering, EBay

Started by Andy Thompson. Last reply by Phil Street Jan 8.

Fenny Compton Goods shed 1 Reply

HelloSome time ago I posted a question concerning the goods shed at Fenny Compton as indicated in the book Track Layout diagrams of the Great Western Railway and B.R. (W.R.) section 29 Stratford-Upon-Avon & Midland Jcn. Rly. by R.A. Cooke ;…Continue

Started by Jack Freuville. Last reply by Simon Dunkley Jan 8.

E&W JR first train 1 Reply

HelloDoes someone have a copy of the picture of the first train running on the East and West Junction Railway as stated in J Dunn’s book The Stratford & Midland Junction Railway on page 43Best regardsJackContinue

Started by Jack Freuville. Last reply by Simon Dunkley Jan 7.

SMJ photos

Article in the Meccano Magazine (Aug 1956) describing the SMJR Railtour

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Permalink Reply by alwyn sparrow on November 11, 2014 at 19:04

Souvenir of that trip.

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Permalink Reply by Dick Bodily on November 11, 2014 at 20:15

Robin

Great stuff!

There's a famous photo of the Claud at Kings Cross complete with SMJ headboard. It appeared in the 1958 Observer's Book of Railway Locomotives of Britain. I wonder why it was taken off at Hitchin as Clauds sometimes ran through to Bletchley and where frequently seen at Northampton Castle in the late 50s, was there a problem? Do you have the date of this magazine so that I can add it to the list of articles on the appropriate webpage?

Dick

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Permalink Reply by Robin Cullup on November 11, 2014 at 23:00

Thanks for this, Dick. The article is in the August 1956 edition of Meccano Magazine (page 402) - I've seen (got) many photographs of 43222 on this special, but I've not seen this particular view before.

Robin

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Permalink Reply by Gary on January 16, 2016 at 14:35

The station is Byfield isn't it?
Great bit of history.

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Permalink Reply by Robin Cullup on January 16, 2016 at 15:26

The station is indeed Byfield.

There must have been many hundreds of photos taken of 43222 and train on the SMJ on this Sunday. What is perhaps amazing to us today is that the special ran on a Sunday meaning that several signal boxes must have been opened specially for the train to pass - would the railways go to that trouble and expense today? I doubt it.