‘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
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
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.
Related Videos
Add a Comment
-
Comment by Dick Bodily on November 23, 2009 at 13:30
-
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
-
Comment by Peter S Lewis on November 22, 2009 at 21:19
-
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
© 2026 Created by Andy Thompson.
Powered by
You need to be a member of The SMJ Society to add comments!
Join The SMJ Society