‘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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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
Jon Bradshaw's Comments
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David and Jon
There is a OO gauge layout of the stations of the Newport Branch at the Milton Keynes Museum in the Transport Hall. Obviously the line between the four stations ( Wolverton, New Bradwell, Great Linford and Newport itself) is very compressed but the stations are detailed. I will try to get some photos of it. I often cycle the route from near Wolverton to Newport. the only real evidence that it was ever a railway is the platform of Great Linford station which has been preserved. The site of Newport station has been completely built over with a new road layout in the area too.
Jon, I’m obviously having a bad day - my autocorrect keeps changing P-a-g-n-e-l-l to ‘Parnell’, and I meant Bill Simpson, not Bill West (both local authors but I do know the difference between their works, honest!). Sorry about that.
Jon, greetings from foggy Aquitaine, hope you don’t mind this approach but I’ve just spotted your comment to Peter mentioning your interest in the Newport Parnell railway. As a Nupput lad I also have an interest in the line and have a long-standing project to model the station. If you have any material not included in Bill West’s book or other published sources I would be very interested to learn of it. Apart from my page here I can be contacted at David.littlewoodtysoe[at]orange.fr (just replace the [at] with the usual symbol). Best wishes, DALT.
We shall look forward to your pictures!!
Peter
Hello Jon,
Welcome to the SMJ site!
What brings you here?
Peter