Without intending to do so, my research into how the GWR might have made an agreement with the LMS to connect Shipston to the Stratford and Midland Joint Railway cross country line has raised some interesting issues.

These don't relate to the Shipston Branch as such, but do have some bearing on my fictitious parallel project, the Legge Lane MPD. This is based on a small MPD "somewhere in the Midlands" with a strong LMS flavor but set in the BR era. Many of the locos I have purchased or will purchase for the Legge Lane project would have visited the SMJR, even if only occasionally. This is because, as the "Shakespeare Route" there would have been excursions as well as a freight service that employed many of my RTR locos. I have slowly accumulated photographic evidence that the following BR(M) classes were employed on freight trains during the BR era:

Midland 3F, Midland 4F, WD 2-8-0, LMS 8F, LMS 4MT (43xxx), LNWR G2A, Standard 9F, Standard 4MT, LMS Black 5

In addition, Western locos were also employed, including Halls, 43XX, 2251, etc., even a Dukedog on SLS specials.

And it might not be a stretch to allow visitors of much greater renown, for example a Jubilee or a Patriot, on a Shakespeare Birthday special.

To a large degree, this is the joy of designing a layout around an anachronism which joined lines operated by different companies (or regions under BR). Almost anything could have happened, and probably did.

To offer evidence for this, the turntable at Stratford was replaced with a larger one in order to accommodate Great Central Atlantics in the days when Edwardians liked to visit Stratford.

Perhaps Legge Lane could be transformed into Stratford upon Avon 21D at some time in the future?

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/1565-the-legge-lane-mpd-blog/