A recent social media post (shown below), from Northumberland County Council is marketing the Northumberland Line as ‘scenic journey through the heart of the county’ with ‘historic stations and breathtaking landscapes’ making it ‘a true gem of the North East’.
While the above does certainly hold true; the Northumberland Line is and will be a scenic route along good portions of it’s length, sections of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) in North Northumberland are perhaps even more outstanding; the views across to Lindisfarne on a sunny day is a very hard act to beat, but the journey through farms, woodlands, and over deep valleys in the coalfield area can hardly be described as an unpleasant trip.
Overlooked Beauty
This isn’t to disparage my ‘home turf’ of South East Northumberland, it is very pretty, sometimes surprisingly so as a local lad; you often overlook your local area in favour of places the Scottish Borders, the Lake District, County Durham, or Yorkshire, but we are blessed with beauty even near to former industrial towns like Blyth, Bedlington, or Ashington.
It is simply that as ‘home’, you perhaps don’t appreciate it as much as you should. Nothing perhaps says this more than a rare (at present) trip between Bedlington and Morpeth on the Hepscott Line, taken back on 8th June 2024 from the Blyth and Tyne Mini Tour by UK Railtours with footage of the Hepscott Line looking north surprisingly spectacular.
Once past the former Barrington Colliery Institute (once the excellent ‘Fuggles’ bar and brewery) at around three minutes in, the scenery is every bit as good as many other lines around the UK.
From Berwick, to Pegswood, then Bedlington, and finally (or not) Newcastle?
One solution could be to implement a service that links both areas together; the Northumberland Coast Loop.
Starting at Newcastle, this route would follow the Northumberland Line for the majority of it’s length, as far as Bedlington.
At Bedlington, the train would bear left onto the Hepscott Line mentioned earlier, taking the train back towards the ECML, and by using the Morpeth North Curve, would point the service towards Berwick Upon Tweed (and potentially Scotland if the service was to continue northwards).
This link would allow rail passengers to get the best of Northumberland Coast; having as much of it as possible using the current track layout. Why not have your cake and eat it?
Northumberland Coast plus The Tyne Valley Line?
Indeed a Berwick, Bedlington, Newcastle, Hexham, Haltwhistle/Carlisle route could allow a very scenic trip taking in the Northumberland Coast from Berwick to Blyth, then the Tyne Valley Line out towarss or into Carlisle; two very spectacular routes, with the potential to link them today.
Indeed this will be the route of the often mentioned ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ by the SRPS, due over this very route on 8th March 2025; showing how easy this could be; why not run a ‘Scenic Sunday Service’ between Carlisle and Berwick via Blyth, taking in all of these three fantastic routes?
Let’s use this existing link to showcase ALL of Northumberland’s Beauty by Rail.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 