‘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
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 6 hours ago.
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 6 hours ago.
PPhoto Albums 1 Reply
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. Last reply by Dave Hayward Jun 8.
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 May 17.
SMJ photos
Old Cine Film of the SMJ.
I recently acquired an old cine film of the SMJ with footage from 1928 to 1955. The film covers the line from Fenny Compton to Broom Junction.
It starts with footage of the 1955 "The South Midlander" railtour reversing into the exchange siding at Fenny Compton and 4F 44186 sitting in the SMJ platform. Sadly it does not show the entire shunting operation, so we're still none the wiser on how the 4F was employed on that day.
It goes on past the MOD exchange sidings in 1951, then a passenger and a goods train trundling through Kineton Station in 1949, some superb 1928 footage shot at Ettington - including an LNWR Cauliflower! Then on to Stratford where several train movements are shown plus a view of the engine shed.
Finally the film closes with a passing view of Binton Station, the 3 span bridge crossing over the River Arrow and ending at Broom Junction.
In all, about 6 1/2 minutes of archive film. I've transferred it to DVD and will bring it to the get-together in Stratford next month, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
Jim.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Peter S Lewis on
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Sounds like a must see!!
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Permalink Reply by Gary on
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Agreed sounds very interesting.
Just wish I could be there on the 11th to see it.
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Permalink Reply by Nick Meredith on
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Jim,
Would it be possible to get hold of a copy of this DVD to help with our modelling research?Nick Meredith
Leamington & Warwick MRS
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Isn't this on the DVD "The Shakespeare Route - The SMJ" issued by Hillside Publishing in 2006?
There's 60 minutes of SMJ footage over the years "with over 20 different classes of engine in action".
Well worth acquiring if you are interested in the SMJ.
Robin
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Oddly, I have a copy of the Hillside film in my DVD drive at the moment and had earlier been noting down the credits
"Filmed by Elena Hendry, Robert Hendry, R Preston Hendry, H J Stretton Ward, Roger Crombleholme"
"Archive Material The Late J M Dunn, The Late R E Tustin, Mike Christensen, Hillside Films Archive"
"Produced by Elena A Hendry"
"Directed by Robert P Hendry"#
Definitely worthwhile viewing, even if a little disjointed inthe sequence it presents the material covered.
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Permalink Reply by Jim Goodman on
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Hi Nick/ Robin,
It's not the DVD issued in 2006 but it is by Hillside Publishing. This is an old cine film produced in 1982 and is only 7 minute long - I got someone to copy it on to a DVD.
I've not seen the 2006 version so what I have may be on that. Most of the film is early BR but there is a bit from 1928 filmed at Ettington. I don't have facilities for making copies but you are very welcome to borrow it to make a copy yourself.
Regards,
Jim.
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Thanks, Jim.
This all sounds familiar and I think that the early material (1928) was filmed by Mr Stretton-Ward who lived at Leamington. I do have a video tape from quite a few years ago which has much of the same material on it, but still purchased the DVD as it was in a more modern format.
Regards,
Robin
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Hi Jim
I've recently viewed the Hillside 'Shakespeare Route', and agree with Nick that its disjointed but contains lots of interesting material. As Nick and I are part of the LWMRS group planning to construct a model of Kineton Station (and I'm also planning a model of Burton Dassett Junction), it would be really interesting to see this particular footage. Can I pick up on your offer to Nick & Robin, and borrow it in order to make a copy. I'm located in South Warwickshire and would be happy to travel in order to pick it up.
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Hi Mark,
I live near Kettering, it's a bit of a trek for you. I'm quite happy to post it to you, I've sent a friendship message - once you accept you can pm your address without publishing it for everyone to read. Incidentally, I was brought up in Leamington and have been to your club's show at Stoneleigh a few times.
Best regards,
Jim.
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