This month has been a very positive one for rail news in Northumberland!
With the opening of the fourth Northumberland Line station at Blyth Bebside on Sunday 19th October, as well as the ‘World Cup of Stations’ win for Ashington, and good news hopefully for the Aln Valley Railway extending beyond Eden Hill Bridge, towards Alnmouth, with these latter two outlined below, it is a succession of good news stories!
Ashington wins the World Cup of Stations
A recent BBC article gave the announcement that Ashington station on the Northumberland Line was the winner of a national competition set by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), becoming the World Cup winner from a shortlist of 20 final nominations! Thank you to all who voted for Ashington to win this award, a fitting tribute to a line finally reopened to passengers after a 60 year hiatus.
Aln Valley Railway: Alnwick (Lionheart) to Alnmouth Station advancing forwards?
The Aln Valley Railway currently runs from their main operating base and station at Lionheart, which was started on a greenfield site in February 2012 to the south of the original Alnwick branch, and just east of the A1 Alnwick Bypass.
Brief history of the Alnwick Branch
Opened in 1850, the branch originally had a different station site, until the current Alnwick Station (now home to Barter Books etc.) was opened in 1887, alongside the opening of the then new Alnwick and Cornhill Railway.
Like most railways post-war, decline in both passenger and goods traffic took hold, but, towards the end of it’s life as a railway station Alnwick was actually seeing passenger growth in decade before (probably linked to Alnwick Castle first opening to the public in May 1950, and growing to c.350,000 per year in the 2020’s).
From ‘The Alnwick Branch’ by Bartle Rippon (2008 p.60) ticket sales in 1951 were 7,683; rising to 15,183 by 1967, the last full year before closure. It is interesting to speculate just how busy the line would be today had it survived, particularly given the iconic role of Alnwick Castle in the Harry Potter films; an arrival into the trainshed at Alnwick would have been a great experience ahead of a visit to the Castle, the Alnwick Garden and more… alas it wasn’t to be…
…Alnwick Station closed to passengers on the 29th January 1968, and completely on 7th October 1968, much later than other local stations such as Ashington, which, alongside other stations now reopening as part of the Northumberland Line programme, had closed in November 1964.
It is rumoured locally that the development of the A1 Alnwick Bypass put pressure on to close the railway, presumably to reduce costs by not providing a bridge over the A1. With the bypass being completed soon after in 1970, it does suggest that the timing of closure could well be connected to the building of the bypass.
Since closure in 1968, the line on the Alnwick side of the A1 has been steadily developed upon, with Lidl on the station throat, and the South Road Industrial Estate on the junction between the Alnwick Branch to Alnmouth, and the Alnwick and Cornhill Line. A now demolished bridge carried the line over the A1068 South Road, and a now heavily overgrown embankment remains towards the A1.
Railway Revival
Since the founding of Lionheart in 2012, the Aln Valley Railway (AVR) has made remarkable progress in building a new railway depot from a greenfield site high above and offset from the original trackbed, then connecting it to the old railway by creating a long, curved embankment, allowing trains to steadily drop down onto the original line, and passing beneath farmers’ bridges to travel eastwards along the line, and passing over the relatively small but still impressive Cawledge Viaduct to reach the current end of the line at Greenrigg Halt.
The reason for this halt at the halfway point of the route from Lionheart to Alnmouth station was due to Eden Hill Bridge, which the Aln Valley was not permitted to pass beneath by its owners (Historical Railways Estate), due to maintenance costs that this could incur to that organisation.
Happily in April 2025, adoption of the structure was taken on by Northumberland County Council (NCC), which should ease the challenges of extension of the line beyond Greenrigg Bridge, and go a long way to further reversal of the postwar rail closures.
On this front, a recent public post from NCC Deputy Leader Cllr Richard Wearmouth, noted a meeting with Alnwick Cllr’s Mr Gordon Castle and Mr Martin Swinbank, and it is very encouraging to see that this expansion is being actively talked about with members of Aln Valley Railway.
Like the Northumberland Line, this railway could potentially be an immensely popular link between the busy town of Alnwick, now home to several other major attractions alongside Alnwick Castle, such as the Alnwick Garden, Lilidorei, Barter Books and many more smaller attractions.
With luck, the AVR may, once the route is established into Alnmouth station (or close enough to have a short walk between them), re-establish the ‘shuttle’ service concept that was floated many years ago (assuming a date of c.1997) in one of their booklets (still for sale at Barter Books as far as I know).
Taking from the text ‘The Aln Valley Railway also has another serious purpose, and that is to provide a commuter link for the residents of Alnwick… Although the tourist side if the railway would be mainly steam operated a modern…vehicle…is envisaged for the commuter side’.
The Parry People Mover vehicles using flywheel technology were mentioned as an example in the booklet, but with battery technology having advanced significantly in the years since the publication of the booklet, it might be more apt for a new battery powered train with rapid charging?
Something like the Revolution VLR train, or similar might be a great option if the AVR decides to operate a commuter shuttle service to and from Alnmouth Station in the future, which could boost sustainable access to and from Alnwick, and make public transport both more effective and faster, making access for tourists coming to Alnwick easier, and for residents to head outwards too!
Please note that the views above are entirely my own, and do not reflect those of any other persons or organisations.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 