In the late evening of 8th March 2025, a pair of Class 37’s (most likely 37403 ‘Isle of Mull’ and an as yet unidentified classmate) will haul the final leg of SRPS operated ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ from Newcastle back to Edinburgh via the Northumberland Line.
This railtour will pass through Manors, then the under construction Northumberland Park, before swinging north towards Seaton Delaval, the only station as yet open on this stretch of the Northumberland Line. Next up is Newsham, which will probably open just days after the passage of the Rambler, then it is through the less complete stations of Blyth Bebside and Bedlington, before reaching Bedlington Junction, and taking the Hepscott Line westwards.
Passing alongside Barrington Road, the railtour will pass the sites of Choppington and Hepscott stations, long since demolished, eventually reaching Hepscott Junction and taking the 1970’s built and 1980 opened Morpeth North Curve, skirting the edge of Coopies Lane Industrial Estate, before rejoining the East Coast Main Line at Morpeth North Junction.
From there, it’ll pass Pegswood, Widdrington, Acklington, Widdrington, Alnmouth (for Alnwick) [my local station], Chathill and then Berwick Upon Tweed, then cross over the border at Marshall Meadows and continue up to Edinburgh, then Linlithgow before heading back to base on the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway presumably.
An Overlooked Option?
With our recent post about the proposed Northumberland Line extension to Newbiggin by the Sea, has the route described above perhaps been overlooked as an option for expansion?
As can be seen above, The Rambler follows the same route on it’s return trip to Edinburgh, showing that the line is complete and available to use almost immediately to provide a connection from Newcastle to Edinburgh via Bedlington and Pegswood, and journey times could potentially smash those of road travel from Blyth to Edinburgh too.
With Blackstone putting £10billion into a data centre campus at Cambois, it is likely to drive other major investments into the Blyth Valley, alongside the £90m ‘Energising Blyth’ programme already well underway; so this rail link to Edinburgh, which would build upon the near £300m investment into the Northumberland Line would surely sit well with those proposals?
Morpeth benefits heavily from a wide range of services calling at the station, but is a town just a fraction of the size of Blyth, with population of 14,419 compared to 39,731 respectively as of the 2021 Census, meaning Morpeth is just over ⅓ the size of Blyth. Why not serve Blyth with a similar range of services to rebalance the two towns’ rail connectivity since the route to enable it exists?
In many ways, there are parallels with better utilisation of the Stillington Line to better connect Teesside and Tyneside and connections beyond with the proposal here to use the Hepscott Line to give better connections between southeast Northumberland and North Tyneside to the Scottish Borders and Edinburgh; both routes are freight only at present, and used occasionally by railtours, but could be put to work regularly for scheduled passenger trains and bring great improvements to journey times and connectivity.
If you agree, please sign my petition, that is performing strongly so far!
Thanks, RH.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 