Extract from Rolt's autobiography "Lines of Character" by Lionel Thomas Carswell (Tom) Rolt (1910-74) 



Having outlined its history and its structure Rolt noted that "despite its switch-back single line, the S.M.J. was potentially a very useful passenger route...".

Later he describes a journey made during the line's heyday:

My first trip on the SMJ was made during the first World War in the course of a long cross-country journey from Hay to Blisworth. Unfortunately I was too young to remember it clearly and it had been absorbed by the LMS before I passed that way again, making several journeys from Beckford on the Midland to Blisworth. The section between Broom and Stratford has been closed to passenger traffic for some years, but at the time I am speaking of it was possible to make a through journey from Ashchurch although it seemed to occupy most of the day. At Evesham the train retired to a siding where it slumbered for a considerable time for no very obvious reason, but passengers could remain on board until it eventually awoke and trundled off to Broom Junction where it performed an unhurried reversing operation in order to pass on to the tracks of the SMJ the "Slow, Mouldy and Jolting" as I had now learnt to call it with affectionate disparagement. Travel on the SMJ, east of Stratford, consisted of an alternation of slow, panting climbs and swift, swaying descents. From the willow-bordered levels of the Avon it was either heavy pulling or collar work all the way to Byfield on that limestone spine of England whence Cherwell and Nene and Leam go their separate ways to the sea. Then the grade favoured, but there were two more summits to cross before the train finally drew in to Blisworth in the late afternoon. It was by no means a smart service, yet I loved this leisurely progress across the Midland shires from station to quiet station. At Burton Dassett under Edge Hill there was the moribund Edge Hill Light Railway to be seen, relic of an unsuccessful ironstone mining speculation, where Brighton "Terriers" used to slumber on the grass-grown tracks. At Fenny Compton, where the line ran beside Great Western metals, a Birmingham two-hour express might thunder past on its lordly way, or there would be a glimpse of a slow-moving boat on the Oxford Canal. At Woodford there was the "G.C." to be looked for, and at Blakesley the little miniature railway which used to run from the station to the hall. And finally, as the train descended the steep bank into Blisworth and rounded the last sharp curve, there appeared the four gleaming tracks of the North Western main line, a contrast indeed to the sleepy SMJ.

Alas for the old SMJ, those journeys can never be repeated!... "Slow, Mouldy and Jolting," "Fig and Orange", "Drum and Monkey" and other names more impolite the SMJ was one of those railways which, like certain people, seem fated from birth to be a butt for the humour of others.  Now the Ministry of Transport (alias Roads) is gradually constructing a road of motorway proportions (being the new A43) to ease the passage of trucks from the East Midlands towards the South Coast.

Rolt's book combines his love of railways, rural Britain and canals. Unlike most authors on railway topics, he was prepared to wear his heart on his sleeve, and was willing to express his disappointments as well as to describe his successes in his very real autobiography. Thus the failure of his first marriage, the bankruptcy of Kerr Stuart, the sinking of his canal barge, and the inevitable human clashes which affect anyone who attempts to save canals and railway, and even the death of his parents, are mentioned. Most importantly, in the third part of the Trilogy (Chapters 5 and 6) he states his approach to writing and the key relationship which he had with his publishers. In consequence Tom Rolt has achieved a degree of immortality through his writing, and for anyone interested in the craft, this is clearly one of the dominant factors in this activity, even if many cases this is illusory – only a librarian who has had the difficult task of attempting to accommodate the ever-rising flood of new literature is aware that the bulk of the material in his or her care remains unread.  The final section of this wonderful book is given over to a description of running the cattle specials from Dingle to Tralee on the monthly market day over the extremely steeply-graded, tortuous line in the far West of Ireland.