Have a look at my Blogpost re this Saturday

[Dave Hayward]

Have a look at the blog regarding an 'exciting opportunity' on the SMJ this Saturday.

Regards

Dave HAyward

[Dave Hayward]

Did anybody else do yesterday's railtrip onto the SMJ?

In case not it was very succesful, we did both goods loops at Fenny Compton and then went onto the SMJ 'proper' by way of No 1 siding, the northerly loop. We then went up the 'mainline' as far as the Network Rail Stop Board at the Depot entrance, on the return journey we left the SMJ via No 2 line, the centre mainline.

As a bonus we also traversed the very rusty truncated No 3 siding as far as the buffer stop just before the Network Rail entrance track and the adjacent rail over road bridge. This line has been truncated as a result of the 'lorry bash' a few years ago to the road bridge that obviously made the south side of the bridge unstable. The damaged area has been removed and not replaced, meaning No 3 line was truncated. All of the track of No 3 line to the west of the bridge has been removed.

The signalling onto the SMJ is very modern with 'feathers' to indicate access to Nos 1 & 3 lines.

[D John Barber]

Hello Dave

What a shame I missed this trip. A fascinating account. Can you tell me who organised it; what rolling stock and motive power was used; and where did it start and finish?

Many years ago, well, in the 1960's, I went on a railtour that left the main line at Fenny Compton and travelled right through Kineton and on towards Broom Junction where the points had to be clipped and padlocked before the tour train could traverse the junction northwards. I really must get out all my old railtour itineraries and find the exact details of this tour.

Thanks again

John Barber

 

Dave Hayward said:

Did anybody else do yesterday's railtrip onto the SMJ?

In case not it was very succesful, we did both goods loops at Fenny Compton and then went onto the SMJ 'proper' by way of No 1 siding, the northerly loop. We then went up the 'mainline' as far as the Network Rail Stop Board at the Depot entrance, on the return journey we left the SMJ via No 2 line, the centre mainline.

As a bonus we also traversed the very rusty truncated No 3 siding as far as the buffer stop just before the Network Rail entrance track and the adjacent rail over road bridge. This line has been truncated as a result of the 'lorry bash' a few years ago to the road bridge that obviously made the south side of the bridge unstable. The damaged area has been removed and not replaced, meaning No 3 line was truncated. All of the track of No 3 line to the west of the bridge has been removed.

The signalling onto the SMJ is very modern with 'feathers' to indicate access to Nos 1 & 3 lines.

[Dave Hayward]

John

It was organised by the Branch Line Society in conjunction with Chiltern Railways as a charity trip. All costs were waived by Chiltern and Network Rail, all proceeds going to the Railway Cildren charity. This supports children who leave home and 'live' railway stations. It started by helping children in Mumbai but now supports children in UK and East Africa as well. Several trips pof this nature have been organised by the BLS in recent years in conjunction with Chiltern and other operators as well; these are in addition to BLS 'normal' trips. A lot of money has now been raised both by fares and raffles etc. The effect of the SMJ is now being felt worldwide!

Returning to the trip itself, the stock was a Chiltern 168 unit. The train left a bay platform at Moor Street in a southerly direction and after negotiating various sidings & platforms there we headed off to the north to Stourbridge Junction. En route we traversed nearly every loop and siding. We then headed south through Moor Street into Tyseley and other loops etc to Fenny where we did the up goods loop then on to Banbury where we commenced to do some of the sidings & loops there, then down to Aynho Junction, reversed on the bi-directional up Marylebone line then back to Banbury and did the remainder of the siding, loops and bays, then back to Aynho again, reversed and headed north to Fenny. Here we did the tracks I detailed in my post from the 3rd August. We then returned to Snow Hill for the rest of the track there and back to Moor Street.

I drove to Leamington Spa to get the train to Moor Street, tragically a short time before I arrived in the morning there was a 'one under' just out side the station on the down line, fortunately though to the Birmingham side of the junction to Kenilworth. My London Midland train was cancelled but I got a Cross-Country that was diverted non-stop to New Street via Coventry, I got to Moor Street earlier than I should have done!

Overall an excellent day for everybody & everything, not least the SMJ & troubled children on the railway.

This is the third time I have done this bit of the SMJ over the years, twice with BLS and once with what was Hertfordshire Railtours, now UK Railtours. The latter trip went all round the layout at Kineton including crossing the Edgehill - Kineton road into the westerly part of the depot. Nearly as good as my days there in 62/ 63 running around the 'old system' in a Wickham railcar but that is another story!

Dave

[Peter S Lewis]

Dave

"running around the 'old system' in a Wickham railcar but that is another story!"

...which of course, we'd like to hear!!

Peter

[Richard Heacock]

I wish I'd known about this  - what's the best way of getting advance notice of future SMJ tours?