Tale from the old line...

[Gary]

Whilst on a current SMJR interest spleurge I have found the following in one of my books.
I am not sure how true it is due to the slight confusion in the dates quoted as the event appears to be in the future when it was written. Make of it what you will.

Taken from More Tales of Old Railwaymen, Tom Quinn ISBN: 1 85410 862 X pp41

Funeral Train
In the early 1900’s Tom Holton’s father was stationmaster at Towcester and the family lived in the station house. When Tom’s sister died in an epidemic, the railway company put on a special train to carry the coffin and mourners to their ancestral home at the village of Slapton 5 Miles away.
The train waited at the nearest point to the church while bearers carried the coffin ½ mile along a field path to the churchyard where the burial took place. The track was single line so no other train could pass.
The family were then conveyed back to Towcester.
The train company, the Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction Railway, was more than once in the receiver’s hands, but it was not too poor to pay this compliment to a faithful servant.
The Railways of England, W. M. Acworth, 1889

[Dick Bodily]

That would have been a point on the Northmpton - Banbury about midway between Greens Norton Junction and Wappenham.