Next year is Railway200, a celebration of 200 years since the opening of the Stockton and Darlington (S&D), widely viewed as the beginning of the ‘modern railway’.
However, there could be, as set out in this blog post, a case for Bedlington400+, and Tanfield 300 to tell the important story of more than 200 years of waggonway history building up to the opening of the S&D.
Where the Northumberland Coast Loop fits into Railway200 and Bedlington400+
As set out in the above blog, railway history really started in North East England with Huntingdon Beaumont and his Bedlington Waggonways, technology he brought from his native Nottinghamshire, and led to the development of North East waggonways, pivotal to the development of the coalfield and the modern railways that spawned from waggonways.
Bedlington is soon again to become part of the national passenger network with the reopening of Bedlington Station due in 2025, alongside the wider Northumberland Line, which opens up a potential tourism opportunity.
Visiting Rail Heritage Sites by Rail
If the Northumberland Coast Loop route is developed, it would put Bedlington on a direct through route between Edinburgh and Newcastle Upon Tyne, both major tourism centres in themselves, with options to extend beyond at either end for truly national visiting opportunities.
Bedlington rails, as one example were key to the success of the Stockton and Darlington, and the Railway200 celebrations focussing on this line, the story of Bedlington is also worth telling, and given its potentially easy access by rail from Newcastle, Edinburgh as wider UK, why not run special trains (railtours/scheeduled trains or a mix of both) to take tourists to this important rail site by rail? A connection from Darlington to Bedlington would be easily achievable, and could even use the ‘balloon loop’ layout from Newcastle, to Bedlington, to Morpeth to Newcastle to avoid need to reverse the train at the Bedlington end of the route.
Dial Cottage, the home of George Stephenson is also within easy reach of Northumberland Park station via the 352 North Tyne Rockets bus, and beyond Newcastle, trains continuing onto the Tyne Valley Line could access Wylam for George Stephenson’s Cottage (his place of birth), as well as Dunston for the Staiths and the Tanfield Railway (itself celebrating it’s 300th anniversary in 2025).
This could either be used for specific railtours (as per the two examples shown above) or as scheduled ‘ordinary’ trains just using the route to showcase the heritage of the area, alongside demonstrating the potential benefits of this route for improving local public transport.
If you’d like to support the Northumberland Coast Loop, please sign the petition here ahead of it closing on 5th October.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 