‘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"
.
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 Jun 16.
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 Jun 16.
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
SER 4-4-0
This is on the Reading side of Earley station and quite close thereto. As you can see - it is a rather more eye catching beast than a Maunsell 'Mogul'!
Add a Comment
-
Comment by adrian vaughan on August 7, 2010 at 21:20
-
Hello Dick,
I'm not at all good at manipulating Steamtube.
Now - this HAS been rebuilt! There were originally 88 of them starting in 1883 as South Eastern Railway 'F' class. Designed by Partick Stirling with his GNR style round roofed cab, domeless boiler and 7' driving wheels. 76 of them were rebuilt under Mr.Wainwright and were known as 'F1' and that is what you see here. Only 8 survived into BR and the last was scrapped in 1949 and that was the only one to have a BR number - 31151. I do recall them for their 'Nelly-engine' looks and the springs above the footplating on the tender. There were also running on the SR out of Reading when I was small, the old SER 'B' class 4-4-0 which were an enlarged F1 domeless boilers. 29 were built. 27 of them later received Wainwright cab and domed boilers and had tenders with the springs below the footplating. So then they were class B1.16 survived into BR but only one - 31446 - ever carried a BR number. The B1s were also regular into Reading Southern. The last one - went in 1951.
The Reading line had some of the Wainwright 'D' class 4-4-0 designed in 1921 and I recall them but the D1 and E1 I don't recall. That's is not to say they diodn't come in but infrequently if they did. The Maulsel 2-60 were in place of the older 4-4-0 for the most part. I was never any good at knowing a 'U' from an 'N' in 1951 so beyond knowing that we had lots of those 2-6-0 I would like to say what type.
-
Comment by Dick Bodily on August 7, 2010 at 18:51
-
Adrian
I think this should have been in Steamtube, but I know why you posted it. Thanks, its a lovely picture. Was this particular type one of the series rebuilt later by Maunsell as D1 or E1, etc? I agree it was more impresive than teh sort of motive power in use when I knew the line.
Dick
© 2026 Created by Andy Thompson.
Powered by
You need to be a member of The SMJ Society to add comments!
Join The SMJ Society