‘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
Blisworth - Towcester ETS working
Electric train staff equipment had been brought into use between Blisworth and Towcester by 9 August 1910 (date of SMJR minute 451 (TNA file RAIL 674/3)) and presumably the new signal box at Blisworth appeared at the same time. In that this was so…Continue
Started by Richard Maund on Saturday.
Blisworth 1920
SMJ board minute 1474 of 13 April 1921 (TNA file RAIL 674/4) approved that “the following expenditure be charged to Capital” for year 1920: “Blisworth: Signalling and alterations to Permanent Way, Improvements and additional signalling: £800”. In…Continue
Started by Richard Maund on Saturday.
Evesham Redditch & Stratford-upon-Avon Junction Railway 8 Replies
Did this railway (as opposed to the East & West Junction Railway) go into receivership - if so, when. And when did it come out of receivership?Continue
Started by Richard Maund. Last reply by Richard Maund Feb 11.
Bidford-on-Avon 5 Replies
Shall we bring this discussion under the proper heading!So far as the OS plan surveyed 1885, published 1886, is concerned: the OS liked - wherever they could - to have text running parallel to the top and bottom borders. When they came to add the…Continue
Started by Richard Maund. Last reply by Richard Maund Feb 10.
SMJ photos
SMJ flight 009
In the middle of nowhere, the Great Central Railway built a town and huge marshalling yards for freight. When it closed in 1966, nature quickly reclaimed much of the land. The SMJ can be seen running centre left to centre top. The line running from the bottom right corner is the Great Central, with spurs to the SMJ. The evening sun is making the scene a little more hazy.
Albums: Flying the SMJ
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Comment by Andy Thompson on October 8, 2010 at 18:34
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Comment by John Evans on October 8, 2010 at 0:59
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Hey Dick
Thanks for this. My memory is a big vague and I now see you are absolutely right. I have a very nice transparency of Woodford West with all the track in place taken looking east along the SMJ. When I load my slides eventually I'll share it.
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Comment by Dick Bodily on October 6, 2010 at 17:01
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John
An excellent fascinating series of pictures. Thanks for all the things you've recently added to the site.
I think your geography is very slightly out ... so here goes....hope you don't mind.... but in this picture the SMJ running from Morton Pinkney is making a faint scar on the field at the bottom left hand corner of your picture. It crosses the tree topped cutting of the GC main line, then enters a densely wooded cutting as it goes under the Eydon Road before heading towards the top right hand corner of the picture. The much used curved connection between Woodford 'North' and Woodford West junctions is clearly visible on the central right hand side of the picture. Woodford West itself is very clear, if you move diagonally along the SMJ route towards the top right corner of your picture its where the two lines of trees meet. Also visible, beyond and almost parallel to the SMJ is the long disused tree lined deep cutting of the South Curve from Woodford South Junction ( just off the left hand side of the picture) to Woodford West. I think you have mistaken this for part of the SMJ's formation. Several pictures of the still existing Eydon Road bridges can be seen on the Woodford Halse picture album (click on 'Photos + Videos', them 'View Albums' to find them) The trackbed of the SMJ, plus part of the South Curve and the site of Woodford West are now a nature reserve which can be visited although parking is difficult. On one of my visits there along with Andy (TFC) we came across the warden. unfortunately the SMJ bridge over the GC disappeared a few years ago but the Eydon road is still a fascinating area to explore for researchers of GCR or SMJR history.
Dick
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