In just four weeks time, the SRPS railtour ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ is due along the proposed route of the Northumberland Coast Loop when it takes in it’s final leg from Newcastle Upon Tyne back to Linlithgow via Bedlington and Edinburgh.
It is quite an epic railtour, taking in some fabulous scenery en-route such as Ribblehead, Shap, and the Tyne Valley; you can view the full tour itinerary on the SRPS website here.
This leg of the much longer tour is due to be handled by a pair of Class 37’s, one of which is due to be 37403 ‘Isle of Mull’, with a 600 tonne train of heritage carriages in tow, it should look (and sound) quite canny!
The detailed timings for this tour were released earlier this week on RTT, so whilst it’ll be quite dark, it might still offer an opportunity to see it, or take night photos/video at stations along the route, one of which could be the then newly opened Newsham station, which hopefully will be opened to passengers in February, just ahead of this railtour passing through.
Proof of Potential Regular Passenger Use
Blyth to Berwick in 60mins or less?
This railtour proves the potential of this route to offer a direct connection from the four new stations opened/opening in South East Northumberland (Bedlington, Blyth Bebside, Newsham, and Seaton Delaval) and Northumberland Park, which just over the border in North Tyneside to stations in North Northumberland and Scotland, rather than making a connection via Newcastle Central Station.
The advantages a direct service to/from North Northumberland and Scotland via Bedlington and Pegswood is to reduce journey times and make travel within Northumberland more convenient, compared to alternatives of changing train at either Newcastle or at Morpeth.
In the case of Morpeth, proposals centre around extending the current Newcastle to Morpeth service as far as Bedlington. Whilst this is a welcome addition to the rail network, a trip from a station such as Newsham to Berwick via Morpeth would require two changes of train, first at Bedlington and again at Morpeth.
By comparison, the above railtour illustrates that a direct route is both possible, and advantageous by offering a direct route, bearing in mind that this is a 600t+ train limited to 75mph, Newsham to Berwick is timetabled to take just over an hour; a modern train, capable of 100mph or even 125mph (used daily on the ECML) could cut this journey time significantly, in the region of 55mins should be possible based on existing timetables, and possibly further enhanced with investment into the route.
This would cut around 30minutes from the current fastest trip time from Blyth to Berwick by public transport, which involves a bus connection from Blyth to Morpeth, and taking a train from Morpeth to Berwick, since a direct rail route exists, so why not use it for direct services?
News Next Week
I’ve been invited to a meeting on Tuesday 10th February with regards to the Northumberland Coast Loop, so hopefully next week there should be some more news of progress on the campaign.
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The Northumberland Coast Loop 