‘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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SMJ Forum
PPhoto Albums
AndyAbout two years ago I ended up with some railway matter from a Bill Kendall who had been a Signalman on SMJ ending his railway career at Northampton No 1. I worked with him when I was working in Rugby PSB, I also covered the signa?l boxes at…Continue
Started by Robin Leslie Patrick 21 hours ago.
Broom Junction station site for sale 3 Replies
Great opportunity for an SMJ enthusiast perhaps. I'm not sure what you could actually do with this site though!…Continue
Started by Simon Stevens. Last reply by Simon Stevens yesterday.
National Archives, Donation and Kineton Photograph
Not sure if others are aware of the significant amount of documents held by the National Archives on the SMJ. The collection consists mainly of Directors Minutes etc. There is also a collection of early 20th C timetables, handbills etc. which I have…Continue
Started by Dave Hayward Apr 26.
Model Railways
HiI'm selling my collection of SMJR related 00 gauge modelsIf of interest for any of you please contact me by mail atjfreuville@gmail.comand I will send you the list and photosKind regardsJackContinue
Started by Jack Freuville Feb 23.
SMJ photos
1964 train register book from Towcester.
I've uploaded a couple of pages from a 1964 train register book i have..
https://www.flickr.com/photos/32297024@N08/24706598791/
What was the status of the lines around Towcester at this time? How far did they go? There is atrain signalled by the code 2-2-3. This suggests it stopped at an intermediate siding. Where was this?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dick Bodily on
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Although official closure from Blisworth Ironstone to Woodford West was 3rd February 1964 it is believed that the Woodford West pickup and Byfield ironstone trains stopped running about a month earlier. 2-2-3 code might have involved collecting wagons stored on the former Olney branch. Is this the last page with entries?
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Permalink Reply by Richard Pike on
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The last entry is 8 November 1964. The later the entry the less detailed it is. Some entries have notes like 'materials' and the are other comments like Ravenstone Wood line.
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Richard,
Between the closure and 8th November the track was being progressively lifted westwards from the Blisworth end by PW trains accessing the closed line by reversal at Woodford West Junction. The trains were hauled by Woodford's 8Fs.Typically they would head off from Woodford early morning and return around teatime.
Picture shows one such train passing Blakesley wrong line returning to Woodford. Presumably there is a gap in the records after the official closure before these workings commenced and such workings would have continued after 8th November as track was lifted further west than Towcester.
Dick
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There is not much written about what happened to lines after closure. I'd always imagined Blisworth being the point rails retreated to but Woodford makes sense. It was almost dead itself and lots of spare capacity.
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