On the 18th and 19th October 2025, the Northumberland Vintage Tractor Club (NVTC) is holding their annual rally at the nearby former Brunton Airfield. A few photos from my visit in 2024 are shown below.
Please note that the opinions expressed below are those of myself, not those of NVTC or of any other organisation.
Chathill to Brunton Airfield
Chathill Station is quite close to Brunton Airfield, which is in a very rural area of Northumberland; about halfway between Alnwick and Berwick Upon Tweed.
As can be seen from the image above, the distance by road is only 4.6km (2.9 miles), meaning it could be driven in around 6 minutes, walked in just over an hour or cycled in just 14mins.
Walking distance is probably erring on too far for most people, but cycling and a shuttle bus could certainly be contenders for the event.
This compares very favourably to the distances involved from other railway stations such as Berwick Upon Tweed and Alnmouth, as seen below:
The problem for Chathill serving this event is the present rail timetable, which currently only gives Chathill a very basic service of one arriving train in the morning and evening from Newcastle and two departures back per day on a Saturday, with no Sunday services at all.
Whilst ideally Chathill, and many other small stations in Northumberland, would be best served by much more frequent service on seven days per week, this is challenging to implement on such a busy railway as the ECML is, so perhaps a temporary timetable, covering just this one weekend (both Saturday and Sunday) could be a quick win?
This could be achieved by any of the current operators that normally pass through Chathill simply amending their schedules slightly to allow a quick stop at this station to drop-off/pick-up passengers.
Blyth Battery to Brunton Airfield by Rail?
At the 2024 Brunton Rally, there was a display from Blyth Battery, a surviving military defence for the important Port of Blyth during both World Wars, with RAF Brunton itself being part of the WW2 coastal air defences of Britain.
This connection along the North Sea Coast highlights just some of the potential in the Northumberland Coast Loop, which could offer a direct link from Newsham Station (closest to Blyth Battery), to Chathill (closest to the former RAF Brunton), which whilst the latter is not typically open to the public, might do so more for events in the future, especially those connected to WW2 which is a major potential tourism draw as Blyth Battery proves.
Hopefully if additonal trains can be planned to coincide with this years Brunton Rally in October, perhaps it might be possible for Northern to run a Belford Siding – Chathill – Pegswood – Bedlington – Newcastle route too and give direct link between Blyth and Brunton for the event?
The Northumberland Coast Loop 