‘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
Woodford halse GCR
Stay with the 30/40 seconds of black to start with. Great shots of Byfield and the inside of the box
Add a Comment
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Comment by Dick Bodily on January 7, 2011 at 13:50
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Gary
Not as bad an error as that perpetuated on the SMJ - Shakespeare Route DVD where the River Tove is constantly mispronounced to rhyme with the bird dove rather than the town of Hove. Another frequent mispronounciation is to pronounce the 'l' in Olney rather than say 'O-nee'. And in the 60s ITV insisted on pronouncing Towcester as Thow-ses-ter when they used to broadcast the horse races. Still being a Northants lad yourself you'll appreciate that outsiders must have difficulty with some of the crazy official pronounciations we have for places:Bozeat (Bojut) and Cogenhoe (Cookno) spring to mind, let alone some of alternative names and complete mispronounciations locals use for places eg. Artleknock, Shanger, Silson, Biffuld, Farrickson, Culluth, Woodun etc.the list is endless.
Dick
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Comment by Stuart Ison on January 6, 2011 at 17:12
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You are correct Gary it is pronounced Kineton to rhyme with Chineton.
I live just down the road from there.
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Comment by Gary on January 4, 2011 at 11:30
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Nice video - wonder what we are missing in the 40 secs of blackness?
SM and J was interesting take on the name.
I never knew Kineton was pronounced "Kinnerton" we've always pronounced it "Kine-ton" as in Chine
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Peter
Many GC stations including Charwelton had loops. At Woodford there were several options for looping goods trains at both yards, but some of the smaller stations only had a single siding rather like certain SMJ stations. This location could well be Staverton Road where there was a special set back siding (on the up side only) where freights were set back if they were likely to get in the way of faster trains on the climb through Catesby Tunnel. If this was not likely to happen they would proceed to Charwelton and perhaps be put in the loop there if necessary.
Re. the Brit that looks like the parcels to me, although Brits were very occasionally still used on semi-fasts right up to the end.
Dick
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Great stuff.
Mixture of vintages but all interesting.
Presumably that was a Britannia at the end in poor condition. Was it on a parcels or the last knockings of the Marylebone to Nottingham service? I wonder where the freight loop was that the O4 set back into. I wonder why it had to set back rather than go straight in - after all the GCR was the most modern line.
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The 37 seen at the end was most probably on a York - Bournemouth cross country express about to take the Banbury line at Culworth Junction.
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