‘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"


.

SMJ Forum

Evesham Redditch & Stratford-upon-Avon Junction Railway 8 Replies

Did this railway (as opposed to the East & West Junction Railway) go into receivership - if so, when. And when did it come out of receivership?Continue

Started by Richard Maund. Last reply by Richard Maund Feb 11.

Bidford-on-Avon 5 Replies

Shall we bring this discussion under the proper heading!So far as the OS plan surveyed 1885, published 1886, is concerned: the OS liked - wherever they could  - to have text running parallel to the top and bottom borders. When they came to add the…Continue

Started by Richard Maund. Last reply by Richard Maund Feb 10.

North End and Warwick Road stations? 57 Replies

Some time ago we ahd an interesting and lively discussion on the mystery station at Tiffield, which added quite a lot to our collective knowledge.I've recently been looking closely at two of the other mystery stations- at North End (sometimes…Continue

Started by Barry Taylor. Last reply by Richard Maund Jan 27.

1873 timetable 4 Replies

Page 12 of Arthur Jordan's book features a full page reproduction of the E&WJ public timetable handbill for August 1873. Does anyone know where the original of that handbill is preserved?Incidentally, the timetable itself formed the basis of…Continue

Started by Richard Maund. Last reply by Barry Taylor Jan 25.

SMJ photos

  • Add Photos
  • View All
Clive Boardman was a fireman at Woodford from 1956-8. This was before the Stratford south curve was installed. He remembers night time workings on loose coupled freights along the SMJ in the days before Woodford's Aussie fleet became run down.

''I did fire on many occasions over the S.M.J. to and from Evesham, always on W.D. 2-8-0s and always evening and night (there were no Woodford workings over the line during the day when it was occupied by 3F and 4F 0-6-0s from Blisworth). The first Woodford working was the 7.20pm Bristol. Sometimes the outward workings would get through to Ashchurch before changing over, although I never got beyond Evesham myself and I think I only worked over the line in daylight once. The only deviation from the norm in my own case was when Reg. Langstone and I took two wagons of cattle to Kineton with a B16 4-6-0 one lunch time but this was really just a matter of expediency, the cattle couldn’t be left standing around in the yard at Woodford, the B16 would have arrived in the early hours on a fully-fitted from York and would be idle until returning in the evening, so convenient to use it to get the cattle to Kineton quickly.
Although I was never on it, there was an ironstone working which booked on at 1.30pm, known as ‘Banbury ironstone’ and always worked by an L1 tank, which in the course of the diagram collected the loaded ironstone from Charwelton and conveyed it to either Byfield or Banbury, I can’t remember which.
There were no fitted workings over the SMJ in my day. The WD's, either Woodford or GW, were ideally suited to the diagrams and were more than equal to the task on the outward workings when they were fresh off the shed. The problems occurred when returning on something that had originated in, say, South Wales, and the fire would sometimes be very dirty. I don't know whether it was true but the story was that a Western Region edict required engines on loose-coupled workings to cover 200 miles between fire cleanings, something that the number 3 link crews normally on these jobs could well have had reason to believe.
I don't know much about what happened after I left the depot, but
certainly in the last months of 1958 before I left there were many
drivers learning the road down to Honeybourne in preparation for re-
routing of the trains. ''. (The proposed rerouting Clive refers to was to be over the South Curve at Stratford rather than via Broom, Woodford men were learning the GWR route to Honeybourne in preparation for the increased workings over the SMJ that began around 1960. )
'' I didn't work on any single lines before the S.M.J. and can't remember
much about the staffs and tokens in any detail. I can remember that
the one from Woodford West Junction onwards was an actual steel staff,
about 18 inches long by 1.5 inches in diameter. Changeovers were
always effected at very low speed and there was always a pool of light
outside the signalboxees where the manouvre took place. The easy ones
were those in which the staff or token was contained in a leather pouch
with a large loop attached, you've probably seen them, and with these
it was just a case of putting the loop onto the signalman's
outstretched arm and collecting the one for the next section at the
same time. ''

Views: 44

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Dick,
It's good to read of these experiences of footplate crews..they add life to the photos, don't they?

Peter
What a fantastic insight.
Thanks Dick for taking the time to post this.
As Peter says - it adds life to the pictures that we see.
A way of life we'll not see again.

ATVB
G

Reply to Discussion

RSS

© 2024   Created by Andy Thompson.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service