Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway

The Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway (SMJR) was a railway company formed at the beginning of 1909 by the merger of three earlier companies:

In 1910 the Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway 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 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. In addition the line developed as a shorter route for Midland Railway goods traffic from the Bristol area to London.

Some upgrading of 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 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 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 the Buckinghamshire Railway, at Cockley Brake, near Banbury, running via Towcester.

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