LMS Route: Stratford Midland Junction - The Shakespeare Route

Stratford on Avon Station: smjsa363

The SLS Special, the very last departure from Stratford upon Avon Old Town Station on 24th April 1965. Brian Hewins writes on www.thesmjr.ning.com, 'the two men shown on the footplate were (right) my cousin Ted, the fireman, and 'Tacker' Harris, a 'number checker', who had come along for the ride. The driver was Ernie(?) Smith. The Northampton train and the Stratford train met at Byfield. The crews then swapped trains, and returned to Stratford and Blisworth respectively'.. The line through Old Town ceased to all traffic from 1st March 1965 when the ironstone traffic from Banbury to South Wales was diverted via Hatton although the signal boxes remained staffed and the line and were notionally open until 5th July 1965. The late John Jennings, SMJ Archivist, writes on www.thesmjr.ning.com in response to the question as to whether other trains ran on the lines after the Special, 'I can categorically confirm that apart from the demolition trains the very last working over the section of the former SMJ main line between Stratford and Burton Dassett was the SLS special that ran on 24th April 1965. This is well documented'.

John continues, 'the Special nearly didn't happen because as the line had been out of use for several weeks the district civil engineer gave 26th April 1965 as the final day he would sanction traffic movements and the special was hastily arranged. The last steam loco to use the section was ex-LMS 0-6-0 No 44188 although the special was double headed by ex-GWR 0-6-0PT No 6435 also as far as Old Town station. The crew of the pannier tank offered to continue but the ex-LMS crew of the 4F refused and took what was an overweight load for the section for a 4F on its own! They told me a few days later that it was only the benefit of a coating of rust on the rails that helped matters along. It was also the rust on the railhead that had delayed assembling the special at Stratford. When the 1960 chord linking the SMJ to the GWR line was built the revised layout was heavily protected by track circuit enabled interlocking but with lack of use it failed to detect when sections were occupied. The special had to be authorised by an inspector phoning Evesham Road box to confirm each movement. During the phoney period of closure when there was a bobby with nothing to do at Clifford Sidings a trip working was made by the GW line banking locomotive once a day to change the water churn and I cannot say for sure that if anyone was on duty at Clifford after the 24th April 1965 whether a water churn trip was made, if so that small section of track would have seen movement after the special! All parked and crippled trucks were cleared from Old Town yard prior to 24th April 1965'.

back