‘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
BLAKESLEY and an SMJ stamp
This item has come up in an auction recently and is a glimpse of the practice of carrying mail by train. Apart from the SMJ…Continue
Started by Graham Ward Nov 14, 2025.
Further about Ravenstone Wood Junction 1 Reply
Firstly a belated thanks to Barry for his excellent research that has returned these signal lever plates to their rightful home! [Perhaps their place of residence on the website needs changing!] Apologies for starting s new Forum discussion on this…Continue
Started by Dave Hayward. Last reply by Barry Taylor Oct 23, 2025.
Ravenstone Wood Junction Signal Box-an anomaly 3 Replies
Closely examining the brass lever plates shown in the Olney Line entry in the Index Section of this website I noticed a significant anomaly. Some of the above plates, specifically 1, 10, 11, 12, 25, 32, 34. refer to platforms, loading dock, goods…Continue
Started by Dave Hayward. Last reply by Barry Taylor Oct 9, 2025.
SMJ keys from the Towcester area 1 Reply
I have been contacted by someone who wishes to dispose of two sets of SMJ-related keys from the Towcester area, but does not want to put personal email or other details on this website. They have been given to him by the estate manager at Easton…Continue
Started by Barry Taylor. Last reply by Barry Taylor Sep 4, 2025.
SMJ photos
Images of Stratford Old Town by D J Norton
Thanks go to his son, Mark for letting us display the images on the SMJ site. Please take time to visit Mark's site of his Dad's photographs - full of great images at http://www.photobydjnorton.com
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Comment by John Jennings on June 24, 2010 at 11:47
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Not completly swept away Duncan, the space between the platforms is now a road and you are right that the whole area has been redeveloped but it is possible to see a line of the platform edge copings alongside the new road. How they survived is not clear but as they did not intrude into the new road formation the platform was buried with just this line of copings showing!
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Wow! As a Geordie, my first awareness of the SMJ was from a photo in a little book called Discovering Old Railways by F G Cockman (a most knowledgeable enthusiast, now, sadly, gone). In 1977 whilst on a family canal holday, I went wandering across Stratford and found the plaforms still there and some foundations, all quite overgrown. I was but 17 and took some terribel images on my Kodak instamatice. I presume even these have been swept away by a developer
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