64-585: SMJR may refer to: Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway Scottish Midland Junction Railway Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title SMJR . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SMJR&oldid=699010058 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
128-485: A Ministry of Defence depot at Kineton . The Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway (SMJR) was formed by the combination of four railway companies. Those companies themselves had been formed with the intention of facilitating the transport of Northamptonshire iron ore to South Wales . The ironstone available to the South Wales iron-making industries had become scarce and was of poor quality, and there
192-406: A beneficial revolution in railway traffic by making a train the safest as well as the most comfortable means of travelling. As soon as the "railophone" comes into general use a collision between two trains will practically be an impossibility. Moreover, the difficult art of the signalman will be transformed into a science. The reach and flexibility of the arm of the law will be marvellously extended to
256-458: A cable. Two former London, Brighton and South Coast Railway "terrier" locomotives and a former Manning Wardle 0-4-0ST locomotive were engaged on the construction work. The mines started production on 22 January 1922, obviously too late to assist in the war effort, and the railway started work in June 1922. Indeed, the market for the ore was not what had been assumed; the quality was indifferent and
320-469: A capital value of £600,000. Ordinary shareholders received 39% of their shareholding face value in cash. A dividend of 1% had been paid in 1921 and 0.5% in 1922. Buckinghamshire Railway The Buckinghamshire Railway was a railway company in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire , England that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley , Banbury and Oxford . Part of the route
384-645: A further Act for another £300,000 was passed. Also in the same year the company submitted a bill to extend from Towcester to join the Great Northern Railway (GNR) at Hitchin , on condition that the GNR subscribed £200,000. The evident objective was to create a further London connection in which the E&;WJR would be a major partner. The GNR declined to make the financial commitment; powers to extend westward to Worcester were also considered, but that scheme
448-567: A newspaper believed that the E&WJR was using its own, separate station: We hope to see the East and West Junction running into the Great Western line at this town. Every one is too familiar with the annoyances of a break in the line of communication, and travellers by the east and West Junction coming from the south and desirous of proceeding to Birmingham &c., have to land at one end of Stratford and journey by omnibus or car, or walk to
512-632: A railway to get access to the deposits did not find favour, and commercial interests combined to build an access line privately. The ironstone was to be extracted by the Edge Hill Ironstone Company. A provisional railway company, the Edge Hill Light Railway, was formed, and the engineer and manager Colonel Stephens was engaged to plan the line. Eleven miles of railway were designed including an incline at 1 in 6 to reach an altitude of 700 feet (210 m). Capital
576-713: A short distance west of Towcester, and to continue from there, crossing the Great Western Railway south of Fenny Compton , to join the Stratford on Avon Railway at Stratford-upon-Avon . That was planned to give the E&WJR access both to Birmingham northwards and via Honeybourne south-westwards; the authorised line included running powers over the Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway between Towcester and Blisworth. The huge authorised capital of £300,000 turned out to be not enough and in 1866
640-474: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway The Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway ( SMJR ) was a railway company in the southern Midlands of England, formed at the beginning of 1909 by the merger of three earlier companies: In 1910 the Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway
704-585: Is still in use today as the Oxford to Bicester Line . The origins of the Buckinghamshire Railway can be traced back to the gauge and territorial wars which took place in Buckinghamshire in the 1840s. The London and Birmingham Railway (L&B) had opened a standard gauge line from Euston to Tring on 16 October 1837, extending to Birmingham in September 1838. In June of that year,
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#1732783900021768-659: The Buckinghamshire Railway (Buckingham and Brackley Junction) Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. ccxxxiii) and the Oxford and Bletchley Junction Railway Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. lxxxii) and, under the direction of the LNWR, the Buckinghamshire Railway was formed by the Buckinghamshire Railway Act 1847 ( 10 & 11 Vict. c. ccxxxvi) on 22 July 1847. The second Duke of Buckingham
832-493: The Buckinghamshire Railway , at Cockley Brake, near Banbury , running via Towcester . In fact the ambitious scheme failed to raise the capital it needed to carry out its plans, and it had to obtain powers for an extension of time when the original authorisation lapsed; the second Act was passed on 28 July 1863; the name was changed to the Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway (N&BJR). Even then it
896-712: The Great Central Railway (GCR) in 1897. When it opened the London extension line in 1899, the GCR provided a north-facing and a south-facing spur where it crossed the Stratford line at Byfield to Woodford on the GCR, opened 15 March 1899. It closed again to passenger trains in August 1899 and to goods traffic on 22 October 1900. While open, it carried the 5.20 pm train from London Marylebone to Byfield, which
960-484: The Great Western Railway (GWR) opened the first part of its broad gauge line from Paddington to Bristol and a further branch from Didcot to Oxford had been opened by June 1844. The GWR subsequently looked to expand beyond Oxford by depositing bills for the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway and the Oxford and Rugby Railway which would take it into the heart of the Midlands . Seeking to prevent
1024-465: The E&WJR was so poor that it fell into receivership from 29 January 1875 to 1902. The passenger service was withdrawn from 31 July 1877 and not resumed until 2 March 1885. The East and West Junction Railway, which runs from Stratford-on-Avon to Blisworth, a distance of about forty miles [60 km], was opened for passenger traffic on Monday [2 March 1885]." The E&WJR still saw its destiny in reaching further west, giving access ultimately to
1088-676: The E&WJR, the ST&;MJR, and the ER&;SJR – were only notionally independent and the reality was given official recognition when an Act of 13 April 1891 established a Joint Committee of the three lines, which could now openly work in concert. The network reached from the Midland Railway at Broom to the Midland at Olney, a west-to-east spread of nearly 60 miles. The Midland Railway had been running through goods and mineral trains over
1152-489: The GCR, no company made an offer; the lines were still heavily loss-making and there was a huge backlog of modernisation and upgrading required. The Joint Committee decided to try to raise more money on the market, and to amalgamate their three lines formally, and to create £600,000 of capital. This was authorised by the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway (Amalgamation) Act of 1 August 1908, by which
1216-628: The GWR from annexing Buckinghamshire into its empire, the L&;B, supported by the Midland Railway , countered with the London, Worcester and South Staffordshire Railway from Tring to Wolverhampton via Aylesbury . The scheme included loop lines from Bicester to Oxford and Banbury to Rugby . A third company, Mark Huish 's Grand Junction Railway , supported the GWR's schemes as a means of forcing
1280-499: The Great Western Railway which had a more advantageous route. For a time this usage of the Stratford route flourished, but the Midland withdrew the lucrative banana traffic—5,500 tons and £1,100 in revenue annually—from Avonmouth to London, and also coal traffic to London, from 1912 or 1913. The long single line through Stratford with inevitable traffic delays and slow permitted speeds militated against reliable use of
1344-590: The L&B in 1846 to form the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). The remains of the loop lines became the Buckingham and Brackley Junction Railway and the Oxford and Bletchley Junction Railway. Three bills were presented to Parliament in 1846-47 for the formation of railway companies to construct the relics of the thwarted L&B and LNWR ambitions in Buckinghamshire. The first two bills were for
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#17327839000211408-407: The LNWR main line at Roade , and a short spur for goods purposes was laid in to connect with that line. The spur was only used for exchange of goods wagons, and in later years the signalbox at the junction on the ST&MJR line was replaced by a ground frame; the daily goods train exchanging wagons waited at the ground frame while the fireman walked to the LNWR signalbox to collect the train staff for
1472-409: The London and Birmingham to merge with it; it proposed a Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway which would join with the Oxford and Rugby at Fenny Compton . The GWR's schemes subsequently received parliamentary approval, whilst the London and Birmingham was obliged to withdraw its proposal. The Grand Junction Railway's scheme was also passed, giving the GWR its route to Birmingham, and it merged with
1536-498: The Midland Railway. The ten mile line took some time to construct due to difficulty in raising money, and before it opened the company changed its name to the Stratford-upon-Avon, Towcester and Midland Junction Railway (ST&MJR), by an Act of 10 August 1882. In 1883 a joint committee was formed with the East and West Junction Railway to operate the line. It opened to goods traffic on 13 April 1891. The line crossed
1600-622: The Midland main line to Bedford and London. Olney , on the B&;NR, was only ten miles or so east of Towcester. In 1879 the East and West Junction Railway sponsored this line; it would build from Towcester to a junction near Olney (Ravenstone Junction). The proposed railway was called the Easton Neston Mineral and Towcester, Roade and Olney Junction Railway ; it was incorporated on 15 August 1879, with share capital of £230,000. Running powers for goods and mineral trains were granted to
1664-560: The N&;BJR line) developed in the 1880s and with the advance of mechanisation so the workings expanded considerably; this later became an extensive site operated by Richard Thomas and Baldwins . The next line to be authorised was the East and West Junction Railway (E&WJR); it obtained its Act of Parliament on 23 June 1864. It was to build a 33-mile (53 km) line from the Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway at Green's Norton Junction,
1728-419: The Northampton line, and the opportunity was taken to rationalise the junction at Greens Norton: the junction (and signalbox) was abolished by running a second single track from Towcester; two single tracks ran side by side, and for the expense of the additional track the signalmen's wages were saved. For some time the Midland Railway had been using the route for its Bristol to London traffic, in competition with
1792-511: The SMJR in 1909 was in effect a financial reconstruction, but the management of the combined company also showed a certain flair for generating tourist income, based on the connection with Shakespeare and also the family connections with George Washington . Additionally, the line developed as a shorter route for Midland Railway goods traffic from the Bristol area to London . Some upgrading of
1856-488: The approach to Banbury; the company signalled its intention by changing its name to the Midland Counties and South Wales Railway . However it quickly became obvious that these ambitious plans—96 miles (154 km) of railway was contemplated at a cost of £1,250,000—were impossible to put into effect, and the company reverted to its former name. In fact the desired connecting line across the hills to Chipping Norton
1920-481: The demand was considerably reduced. Production ceased on 27 January 1925, at first apparently temporarily but the work never resumed. The railways of Great Britain were "grouped" following the Railways Act 1921 ; the SMJR was a subsidiary of the new London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), and the Midland Railway and the LNWR were constituents of it. SMJR consisted of 67 miles (108 km) of route and had
1984-450: The detriment of wrongdoers flying from justice; and a passenger on an English express, while travelling along at 60 miles per hour [100 km/h] will soon be able to hold a quiet conversation with a person as far away as Astrakan. Mr Hans von Kramer, the inventor of the "railophone," is an electrical engineer of Birmingham. He has worked on the old idea of electro-magnetic induction discovered by Faraday about 80 years ago. The demonstration
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2048-452: The establishment of the Buckingham and Brackley Junction Railway and the Oxford and Bletchley Junction Railway to construct lines from Bletchley to Oxford via Winslow and Bicester, and another from a point near Claydon House to Brackley and Buckingham . The third bill was for the amalgamation of the two companies into the Buckinghamshire Railway and the authorisation of an extension from Buckingham to Banbury. The bills were passed as
2112-468: The intended revenue. Nonetheless the Midland Railway was quick to exploit the new shorter route from the West of England to London and by 1883 was working goods trains between Broom Junction and Olney with its own engines. The Midland Railway locomotives proved too heavy for the lightly constructed permanent way on the line and the local company's own engines were substituted. The passenger station at Broom
2176-555: The iron industries of South Wales and the West Midlands, and if possible avoiding dependency on the powerful Great Western Railway (GWR) at Stratford. The Evesham and Redditch Railway had opened a north–south line in 1866, and was aligned to the Midland Railway . Its line lay only eight miles west of Stratford, and the E&WJR sponsored the promotion of the Evesham, Redditch and Stratford-upon-Avon Junction Railway . This line
2240-478: The junction at Broom to the station there. This line was immediately unprofitable and it too went into receivership, but continuing to trade, from 2 January 1886. Continuing its quest to find a connecting line that would be successful, the E&WJR now looked to the south-east. It observed that the Bedford and Northampton Railway opened its line in 1872; aligned to the Midland Railway it connected to
2304-412: The line between Broom and Olney for some time with its own engines, but the very light track on the SMJR line was experiencing serious damage, and from 8 December 1891 the Midland engines were taken off and the through traffic worked by SMJR engines. The Joint Committee had made strenuous efforts to sell its lines to a larger railway, ideally the Midland Railway, but notwithstanding the interest shown by
2368-432: The line itself with second hand engines acquired from the LNWR until 1875, from which time they were hired from that company throughout the remaining lifetime of the N&BJR. Still intending to reach South Wales independently, the N&BJR obtained authorisation for a further extension to Blockley , Gloucestershire, (near Moreton-in-Marsh ) in 1865 and to Ross-on-Wye in 1866. This line would have turned south-west on
2432-493: The line, and combined tickets were issued for excursions including river trips and refreshments. Moreton Pinkney station was entitled Moreton Pinkney for Sulgrave from 10 January 1913 to build on the connection with the family of George Washington , who had inhabited Sulgrave Manor. The line was promoted in publicity material as The Shakespeare Route , and powers were obtained in 1910 to operate motor buses. Certain economies in train mileage were possible after acquisition of
2496-406: The line, returning to his train to unlock the ground frame with the key on the train staff. A passenger service on the ST&MJR main line was inaugurated on 1 December 1892, operated by hiring in a Midland Railway locomotive and coaches, but this was unsuccessful and it ceased from 30 March 1893. Cheap iron ore from Spain became easily available before the line opened, and abstracted most of
2560-499: The line. A means of instant communication with moving trains had long been wished for, and in 1910 an experiment was carried out on the line with the Railophone system that had been developed by an engineer by the name of Hans von Kramer. A demonstration set-up was installed on the SMJR line; an inductive conductor was placed along the track, and two sets of coils in the train were able to receive and transmit speech. Apparatus
2624-463: The locomotive became E&WJR no. 1. A further time extension had to be sought in Parliament, and preference loans obtained to build further, but on 1 July 1873 the western (Stratford to Kineton) and eastern (Fenny Compton to Green's Norton Junction, Towcester) ends of the line were ready, and trains ran between Blisworth and Stratford. Between Blisworth and Green's Norton Junction this
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2688-598: The money was simply not available. In 1893 the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) purchased £294,971 worth of shares in the East and West Junction Railway and £42,345 worth in the Evesham, Redditch and Stratford Junction Railway with an eye to future use, and the MS&;LR now had majority voting in the two smaller companies. The MS&LR was planning its London extension, and it changed its name to
2752-472: The new group by being purchased by the SMJR for £53,223. This was authorised by an Act of 29 April 1910, which took effect on 1 July 1910. The chairman of the SMJR was Harry Willmott, and his son Russell Willmott was appointed traffic manager and engineer from 31 December 1913. The Willmotts were energetic in promoting the tourism potential of the line; in addition to the connection with Shakespeare at Stratford, there were considerable areas of natural beauty on
2816-559: The opposite extremity of the town, causing fatigue, anxiety, and delay... we hope some means will be used to effect a junction in the two lines, so that one station can be used, and the Great Western Company have a station in the Alcester-road, particularly accessible from the town. From this time the London and North Western Railway ran through carriages from London Euston to Stratford via Blisworth. Income on
2880-406: The poor-quality infrastructure was undertaken, and some heavy mineral flows – continuing until as late as 1960 – passed along the line, but the severe operational constraints led to the diversion of traffic to other routes in 1964. By that time all of the passenger traffic had dwindled to nothing and the line was closed down piece by piece. A short section of the original network remains in use serving
2944-575: The same year the company's shares had been consolidated with those of the LNWR. In 1879, the LNWR also absorbed the Bedford Railway which had constructed a line between Bletchley and Bedford . It had already absorbed the Bedford and Sandy Railway in 1865, which had constructed a line between Bedford and Cambridge . The line between Oxford and Cambridge was subsequently known as the Varsity Line and that between Banbury and Bletchley
3008-532: The three railways were formed into the SMJR; the merger was effective on 1 January 1909, and the Joint Committee was dissolved on 21 April 1909. The attractiveness of investing in this new company must have been affected by the fact that the total population between Broom and Blisworth was only 18,000 in 1900: the only large settlements were Towcester (population 2,775) and Stratford-upon-Avon (8,500). The Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway joined
3072-445: Was 15 miles (24 km) in length, and was constructed using very light permanent way materials, which caused difficulties later. The junction at Cockley Brake was over 5 miles (8 km) from Banbury, and running powers over the Buckinghamshire Railway were necessary to reach that place. The company was able to operate a passenger service from Blisworth through Towcester, Wappenham , Helmdon and Cockley Brake to Banbury. It worked
3136-424: Was abandoned. Obtaining Parliamentary authority to raise capital was one thing, but it proved much more difficult actually to obtain the money from potential subscribers. On 1 June 1871 the first section of the line, from Fenny Compton to Kineton , a distance of six miles, was opened and a passenger service started over that section. They hired a contractor's engine for the purpose and later bought it, at which stage
3200-408: Was an unadvertised exchange platform only at first, but it became a public station on 1 November 1880. To add to the financial agonies, the ST&MJR was obliged to modernise the E&WJR lines, which had been built cheaply of poorly specified materials: £160,000 was to be spent; evidently the ST&MJR was in part intended as a means of financial manipulation to rescue the E&WJR. Nonetheless,
3264-436: Was authorised on 5 August 1873, and ran west from Stratford to a junction at Broom on the E&RR. The junction at Broom led towards Birmingham. The heavy mineral traffic was destined to move southwards, and the reversal in the restricted layout was to prove inconvenient. It opened on 2 June 1879 and the seven mile line was worked by the E&WJR. Running powers were obtained to Redditch , but they were only exercised from
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#17327839000213328-523: Was built much later by the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway , which opened on 6 April 1887. The Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway did not generate much passenger traffic, and the train service was limited to three or four return trains daily, but cattle proved a very successful traffic as Banbury cattle market grew in importance. The small scale ironstone workings around Blisworth and Gayton (just over 1 mile (2 km) south-west of Blisworth on
3392-462: Was by running powers over the Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway. At the Stratford end the company was to build its own station, but at first the GWR station, accessed by a spur connection, was used. In June 1875 the E&WJR had a temporary station of its own ready and trains were transferred to that, and they opened a permanent station in January 1876. However, soon after the opening,
3456-503: Was chairman until he encountered financial difficulties and was replaced by Sir Harry Verney , with Buckingham's son, the Marquess of Chandos , taking a seat on the board. Robert Stephenson was employed to construct the line, with Thomas Brassey as the civil engineering contractor . The line opened between Bletchley and Banbury (via Verney Junction) on 30 March 1850, and between Verney Junction and Oxford on 20 May 1851. The line
3520-435: Was discouraged. On 24 May 1917 the connection at Roade to the LNWR was removed, and the track materials were reused elsewhere. During the war there was heavy demand for iron ore for the materiel of war. Harry Willmott drew attention to the large deposits of easily winnable iron ore near Burton Dassett ; 30 million tons were claimed to be accessible. A suggestion from Willmott that the government might wish to support
3584-439: Was evidently a technical success; as well as showing that trains could be stopped remotely, von Kramer accidentally leant on the activation button and a movement shunting to the platform was instantly stopped. Nonetheless the cost of installing the system on a widespread basis seems to have deterred its general adoption. During World War I the railways came under the control of a Railway Executive Committee , and leisure travel
3648-472: Was fitted that enabled an electrical signal to the train to apply the train brakes in an emergency. A public demonstration of the system was arranged for 28 June 1912. In view of the extraordinary number of terrible railway accidents that have occurred in different parts of the world during the last few months, the latest invention in the science of wireless electricity deserves far more public attention than has been given to it. [The invention] promises to create
3712-447: Was forced to content itself with a short line from Blisworth , on the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) main line to Towcester, opened on 1 May 1866. It built its own station at Blisworth alongside the LNWR station. The N&BJR extended its line to Cockley Brake, approaching Banbury, on 1 June 1872 (authorised by a further bill in 1870). Goods traffic had been carried as far as Helmdon since August 1871. The extension
3776-463: Was huge demand. The Northamptonshire ore was not of the highest quality but it was abundantly available and conveying it to South Wales was worthwhile. The Northampton and Banbury Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament on 9 July 1847, with the intention of connecting the ironstone fields of Northamptonshire with a market for iron ore in South Wales. In the first instance it was to do this by connecting from Gayton Wharf, near Northampton, to
3840-504: Was purchased and an east–west network was formed which linked routes to Bedford and Northampton in the east to lines leading towards Banbury and Gloucester in the west, by way of Towcester and Stratford-on-Avon . The constituent lines had each been built with a view to carrying Northamptonshire iron ore to South Wales and the West Midlands , but they were all unable to finance their planned lines in full. The formation of
3904-478: Was then attached to the 7.17 pm Blisworth to Stratford train. There was a north curve opened at the same time and it remained open much longer; the Marylebone to Stratford through carriage was slipped at Woodford and ran to Stratford over the north curve. The through carriage was operated from 16 June 1902. The curve closed to passengers on 31 May 1948 and to goods on 1 March 1965. The three railways –
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#17327839000213968-467: Was to be £200,000. However, there was intense local opposition on the grounds of spoilt amenity. The resulting negotiations resulted in a railway network planned to be less than 6 miles (10 km) in extent, with capital of £90,000, joining the SMJR lines at Burton Dassett. A Light Railway Order was issued on 28 January 1919; the track was to be standard gauge. The incline was on the balanced system, with descending loaded wagons hauling empties upwards by
4032-568: Was worked as a separate line, the Banbury to Verney Junction Branch Line . The second line closed to all traffic by the end of 1966, while the Bedford to Cambridge section of the first line was closed as from the beginning of 1968. The section from Bedford to Bletchley remains as the Marston Vale Line and that between Oxford and Bicester was closed, but reopened to passenger traffic in 1986. The Oxford – Bicester Village section of
4096-430: Was worked by the LNWR, which originally leased the line, eventually absorbing the Buckinghamshire Railway on 21 July 1879. The Buckinghamshire Railway made modest profits until its valuable freight was re-routed through Oxford and Didcot, leaving it to sink into losses from which it never re-emerged. It continued until the chairman of the LNWR, Richard Moon , was elected to the board on 23 February 1878 and by 15 July in
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