‘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
magnet fishing
Hi everyone, yesterday I did some magnet fishing with the grandchildren from the SMJ bridge over the river Tove in Towester, to great excitement of the children (and myself) we pulled out three chair screws and a rivet which looked similar in style…Continue
Started by Steve Camm Sep 1.
One of the best preserved SMJ bridges? 1 Reply
I was at Ettington the other day and apart from the good shed, which has had a lot of money spent on it including full glazing, the station building is still there. But my attention went to the station bridge (No. 73?) which is in very good…Continue
Started by John Evans. Last reply by Andy Thompson Aug 30.
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.
SMJ photos
Broom Junction at Warley
Apologies for the quality of this video. 'Broom Junction' layout is a very accurate representation. It's recently been refurbished after a period when it wasn't shown and at Warley members of the Warley MR Society were running various trains on it so consequentally they were not always appropriate for the line, but it was great to see this fabulous layout on display again. A Webb 2-4-2T of the type that ran Towcester Race specials can be seen as can its more modern replacement on the autotrains that ran from Northampton to Blisworth, the Ivatt 2MT tank. The latter is seen coming off the SMJ.
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Comment by Dick Bodily on November 23, 2009 at 13:30
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Pete
Its changed a bit since then, it was last on show there in 2007, somewhere on this website are photos I took then which aren't as good as the ones I took this year, but at least they showed a 4F on a SMJ train rather than a 2MT tank! They should build a layout called Blisworth then they would have the right trains: 2MT, Webb 2-4-2T and unrebuilt Scot. When I was knee high to a grasshopper I saw both an unrebuilt Scot at Blisworth and a Webb tank on a Blisworth train at Castle Station.
all the best
Dick
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Comment by Peter S Lewis on November 22, 2009 at 21:19
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Dick, When I first went to Warley a few years ago, this display was there...but I hadn't got my camera!
So this makes up for that!
Thank you.
Peter
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