Random Railways 15: The Shakespeare Route, The Stratford on Avon & Midland Junction Railway

Silent 8mm archive footage of the Stratford on Avon & Midland Junction Railway 1928-1955.

Text from leaflet enclosed with original film:

Unlike the more densely populated and industrialised north and west Midlands,
the South Midlands remain, even today, a landscape of peaceful villages and
farms. Most of the railways which crossed this quiet countryside ran north-
south, connecting London with the manufacturing centres, for the rural
communities had little traffic to offer. One of the few exceptions, to run east -west, was also the only truly local company in an area dominated by the
GWR, LNWR, Midland and GCR. This was the Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction Railway, or as its management proclaimed, the "Shakespeare Route".

It was formed in 1909-10 out of several earlier companies. Its main line ran from Broom on the Worcestershire/ Warwickshire border, to Ravenstone Wood Jcn on the MR Northampton - Bedford branch. There was a second route connecting Banbury with Blisworth.
It was a peaceful backwater, and whether in SMJ, LMS or BR days, the typical
passenger train comprised no more than 2-3 carriages and an 0-6-0 goods loco.
Passenger services ceased in 1952, and freight traffic in the sixties. In
S M J — The Shakespeare Route", we will 100k at the western end of the line in
South Warwickshire, as it was between the twenties and the fifties. First, we
will set the scene with glimpse of Compton Verney, one of the great country
houses, and for a time, setting for the SMJ annual staff outing. Even more
familiar to SMJ men were the old-time stooks along the lineside at harvest time.

The first section of the East & West Junction Railway, the main constituent
of the SMJ, opened in 1871 between Fenny Compton and Kineton. At Fenny Compton it made contact with the GWR Birmingham main line, and we open our tour at the station waiting for a GWR 90xx 4-4-0, 9015 to arrive with the railtour of 1955.

9015 arrives and sets back through the exchange siding which provided the only means of contact between the two lines until the 1960's, and then draws into the SMJ platform, before departing for Kineton.

44186, a Fowler 4F , also at Fenny Compton, is more typical of latter day motive power.

During World War II, an army camp wag established at Burton Bassett, a short
distance out of Fenny Compton, and this is the only section to survive, being
currently worked by the MOD. We see the army exchange sidings as they were in
1951, with an 'Austerity' 0-6-0 ST and an ex GWR tender in WD livery. Going back
to 1949, we watch 43822, a Midland 3F with a typically short passenger train
near Kineton, and then study a tall lattice post fixed distant. A 4F, running
tender first' trundles by with a short freight, and we later see an "engine and
brake" the latter dating from the Midland era.

We arrive at Kineton, pause to study the station, and then watch the signalman
exchange staffs with the crew of 43822, our 3F, on another passenger run, still
in 1949. Boarding the train, we pull away, heading for Stratford. We have already
realised that passenger or freight, the SM,J was an 0-6-0 line, and this is
emphasised in our next sequence, shot as long ago as 1928 at Ettington.
An LNWR 'Cauliflower' arrives light from Stratford, and waits for a westbound passenger hauled by an immaculate Ex Midland 2F, 3551, still with Johnson boiler mountings.
As 3551 blows off and the driver oils round, a few passengers alight and a few
minutes later we see an even older form of conveyance clop, unconcernedly over
the road bridge.

Stratford, the headquarters of the SMJ is our next venue; a Fowler 4F, 4204, still carrying her LMS number in 1949, is waiting to leave with an eastbound
freight. A 2 coach passenger train, entrusted to a 3F running tender first,
arrives from Blisworth, and moments later 4204 pulls out. A 3F follows her
train down the platform, for the loco Shed approach, Broom line and spur to the
GWR begin at the platform end, and there is much shunting to be done, as we soon
see, as 3F, 43800, potters about. Our passenger train makes ready to return to
Blisworth, but we will journey west, past Stratford shed, past Binton station
with its stone goods shed and station building, over the three span River Arrow
bridge just east of Broom East junction, and .into Broom station itself, bringing
our tour of the "Shakespeare Route" to a close.
Produced 1982

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