‘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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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

Started by Jack Freuville Aug 29.

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

Started by Nicholas Young Jul 26.

Smj exploring and making new youtube videos 1 Reply

Hi all members.I was wondering if you could help by subscribing to my YouTube channel ‘NWP EXPLORING’ Mainly railway history and some exploring the SMJ .im planning to explore and video more of the SMJ , and if you have a desired area you would…Continue

Started by Neil. Last reply by Henry Jul 10.

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

Started by Dave Hayward. Last reply by Henry Jul 10.

SMJ photos

Ravenstone Wood Junction to Towcester section

This section still had rails for some years after closure and was used for storing redundant open wagons. These were of course cleared out before the track was lifted and a friend of mine, Tony Warwick, then a fireman based at Northampton (Far Cotton Sheds), made at least one trip from the Bedford line towards Towcester collecting the wagons c1965. After the wagons were stationed there it became the practice in fine weather for some of the older boys from Roade Secondary School to make there way across a couple of fields that separated the line from the School fields and make use of one of the wagons as a private smoking room during the lunch break. One day somebody released the brakes on the wagon in which the lads were "faggin' it" and they trundled off down the gradient towards the main line bridge, hitting another stationary rake with considerable force and scaring the lads out of their wits.
The M1 bridge was never, so far as I am aware, ever used by revenue-earning trains. The rails through Stoke Bruerne station were certainly removed by August 1965, although I found several ex-LNWR chairs lying in a heap by the Boat Horse road bridge a year later. some of these were used as ballast in a canal boat and one, cast-marked L&NWR 1909 I used for many years as a door stop. I believe these were in fact recycled main-line chairs used by the LMS during the 1930s when the whole line from Ravenstone to Towcester was relaid.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Lyman on October 13, 2012 at 19:00

I'm sure I've input this before...I fetched the ashes from the burnt out remains of the box and fellow RCTS member John Mawby made the casket. I visited the box many times and have rescued a number of Train Registers and also one of the box nameboards which goes with one of the boxboards I rescued from Towcester. I recovered both ends by climbing a ladder and unscrewing the boards and climbing back down - no fun as all the metal had been removed and the men were about to torch the wooden frame which they also did to Ravenstone Wood Jct. box. There is film at RWJct and down the branch to Roade in my Telerail DVD.

Re the 11.11.09 query - the trains came up from Northampton Far Cotton. Northampton power, men and guard booked on daily around 5.30am and were relieved at around 1.00pm by another engine, men and guard. This was the case when the track was lifted between Roade and Towcester and later Ravenstone Wood Jct. to Roade. As far as I know only Northampton men and guards signed the SMJ east of Woodford West Jct. as the only train that passed over the branch was the 8.30am Northampton - Woodford and back, Mondays to Saturdays and it was only worked by Northampton men. I cadged many trips on this train and it was a really super day out with our snap and strong (condensed milk) tea consumed in Byfield box before a gentle ride back through some very remote countryside...and almost always you could take the regulator as far as Blisworth.!