Morpeth North Curve Under Construction

Below are some great photos of the building of Morpeth North Curve and wider Blyth and Tyne alterations made in late 1970’s/early 1980’s when the Tyne and Wear Metro was under construction, all photos courtesy of Phil Kirkland, railway engineer who was involved the works to the line, and taking a great photographic record of this relatively little known section of line.

Brief History

Construction of the Morpeth North Curve began in the late 1970’s, and was completed in mid-1980, for the first time allowing trains to reach Bedlington from North Northumberland/Scotland without requiring reversal.

This link was, however, intended to be built in 1882, as shown by C.R. Warn (1976 p. 35/36) Main Line Railways of Northumberland, but was only opened 98 years later.

In my own view, whilst this new curve it has been well used over the years by railfreight and diversions, I don’t think it’s full potential has been realised yet, and is something I think should change.

In an alternative world, stations on the B&T like Bedlington, Bebside, Newsham etc remained open for local passenger trains, there may well have been a push by locals to get direct long-distance services over this route back then. Promotional videos like Ship Shape in 1986 by Port of Blyth hint that better rail services to Blyth would have been desirable at the very least.

With the Northumberland Line well underway, correcting the possibly mistaken closure of the stations in 1964, should we use this 1980 built link more fully in 2025?