‘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'

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Loco N° 5. 2-4-0T

Hi everybodyI’m building a OO gauge model of Fenny Compton and Clifford Sidings over here in Belgium.Quite a strange idea but so be it…In view of this I plan to transform a RTR Beatie Well Tank into SMJR N° 5 the 2-4-0T and use some etchings for the…Continue

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Olney BRM Sept 2023

Layouts based on actual SMJR locations are few and far between. Due to being given notice on clubroom, Olney as featured in BRM Sept 2023 is for sale!This is a rare opportunity to acquire a beautiful, 15 years in the making, ready to run model…Continue

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Smj exploring and making new youtube videos 1 Reply

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Funny Story about Kineton Military Railway 2 Replies

An improbable, funny, but absolutely true story relating to the Kineton military railway.Long after my Army days I still retained an affection and passing interest in Kineton ammunition depot where I served during the 1960s. Coupled to a 'love' of…Continue

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SMJ photos

Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway Jody Iosias

I just found on Amazon Japan the book Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway by Jody Iosias. Apparently it’s worth around £ 30

I’ve never heard of this book nor of the writer before.

Is there anybody out there who could advise me on this book

Jack

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Permalink Reply by Barry Taylor on June 24, 2016 at 13:03

Hi Jack

I think that this is just an internet produced re-hash of previously published material on the SMJ.

If you have a look around (on Ebay in particular) there are others - I've seen "books" advertised on Ettington and Kineton stations for example, and the "authors" always have somewhat strange sounding names!

A friend of mine purchased a similar thing a year or so ago that purported to be on The Watermills of Northamptonshire - it was, but it was a mere cut & paste re-hash job of information which he already had in several other places.

Probably best avoided - my own history of the SMJ is at the publishers now, and Vol 1 should be out early next year - I hope that it will prove a better buy!!

REgards

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Permalink Reply by Dick Bodily on June 24, 2016 at 18:08

Jack

Usually these so called books that Barry mentioned are simply copied entries from Wikipedia or even lifted from articles on websites such as this one. Often they charge much more, even £100 plus hoping to catch out the unwary. My advice .. don't buy! If it was a genuine researched work then it would have been reviewed in the railway press.

Dick

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Permalink Reply by Peter S Lewis on June 24, 2016 at 23:53

The synopsis of this book..a new one to me(!) on Abe Books website is rather telling.."Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online"..and a look at an Amazon page . http://www.amazon.co.uk/Iosias-Jody/e/B00JCWM4SI shows the author to be quite prolific...looks like a "copy and paste" merchant..