‘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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magnet fishing

Hi everyone, yesterday I did some magnet fishing with the grandchildren from the SMJ bridge over the river Tove in Towester, to great excitement of the children (and myself) we pulled out three chair screws and a rivet which looked similar in style…Continue

Started by Steve Camm yesterday.

One of the best preserved SMJ bridges? 1 Reply

I was at Ettington the other day and apart from the good shed, which has had a lot of money spent on it including full glazing, the station building is still there. But my attention went to the station bridge (No. 73?) which is in very good…Continue

Started by John Evans. Last reply by Andy Thompson on Sunday.

Passenger Trains connected to the SMJ

Following on from the previous discussion about WD passenger trains on the SMJ during the 1940s; it must be said that passenger trains ran on metals connected to the SMJ until the mid 1960s. There was a passenger service from the nearest point to…Continue

Started by Dave Hayward Jun 16.

Wartime passenger trains from Burton Dassett 3 Replies

Arthur Jordan in his book, The Stratford Upon Avon and Midland Junction Railway - The Shakespeare Route at pp 82 mentions a WW2 late night special from Stratford on Avon to Burton Dassett for soldiers at the CAD. I would envisage that this did not…Continue

Started by Dave Hayward. Last reply by Dave Hayward Jun 16.

SMJ photos

LAST RITES - book from John Evans

Just searched the forum for any mention of this new book but can't find anything, so:

Received today, a delightful book describing the author's exploits at the very end of the steam era.

LAST RITES FROM THE TRACK TO THE SCRAPYARD, by JOHN EVANS, published by Amberley.

Of particular note are the descriptions of walks along the closed route of the SMJ - for anyone who could not do it themselves this must be the next best experience!

As I also have a particular interest in the activities at Cransley Scrapyard and the ironstone quarries of Blisworth and Byfield, I am finding the content of this well-illustrated and well-written book most informative.

As always, and having long admired John's images on photographic hosting sites, it would have been great to see this work published in large colour format, but this would no doubt make it prohibitively expensive.

Congratulations on an excellent book!

Tony

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Permalink Reply by Tony Goff on April 14, 2016 at 20:44

Just read the explanation in the book about cost of colour film and developing compared with pocket money income, hence b/w images prior to 1965 - point taken!!