‘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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National Archives, Donation and Kineton Photograph

Not sure if others are aware of the significant amount of documents held by the National Archives on the SMJ. The collection consists mainly of Directors Minutes etc. There is also a collection of early 20th C timetables, handbills etc. which I have…Continue

Started by Dave Hayward Apr 26.

Model Railways

HiI'm selling my collection of SMJR related 00 gauge modelsIf of interest for any of you please contact me by mail atjfreuville@gmail.comand I will send you the list and photosKind regardsJackContinue

Started by Jack Freuville Feb 23.

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.

SMJ photos

Burton Dassett Cableway

Please find attached a copy of the OS 6" map 1888 - 1913 series that illustrates the subject cable-way (called a tramway on the map) and also the Burton Dassett sidings. This cable-way is mentioned by Arthur Jordan in hos book on the SMJ at pp45, he does discuss the question of man-riding! I understand but have no details that there was a fatal accident at Northend involving the cable-way (man-riding?).

Regards,

Dave Hayward

Attachments:

Overhead Tramway Route.PNG, 704 KB

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mark Reader on February 22, 2021 at 12:18

Hi Dave

Eric Tonks included an excellent chapter on this topic in his book, ‘Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands, Part 2, The Oxfordshire Field’.

Its interesting that while it appears on the 1888-1913 OS map, the aerial ropeway does not appear on the 1881-1890 1:2500 or the 1883-1889 1:10560 first edition series maps, even though we know it was in use by then. It just goes to show the time lag at that time between gathering data and publishing the actual maps.

The Burton Hill Iron Ore Co appear to have been renting railway wagons from as early as January 1871, which would suggest that the aerial ropeway was in active use (on and off) from the moment the EWJR was opened for commercial operation. Although the exact closure date is not certain, the last recorded use seems to be 1925. I say ‘on and off’ because the quarries at Burton Dassett were not in constant use throughout this period, and the ropeway fell into a fairly bad state of disrepair.

I’ve attached an image of the ‘cage’ that protected the public from falling debris where the ropeway crossed the road at North End. Tonks refers to the practice of taking a ride in the buckets, but I don’t recall him referring to a fatality, so I’d be really grateful if you could point me in the direction of your source for that information. I wonder if the fatality occurred before or after the cage/bridge was constructed.