N.C.L. Petition hits 1040!

The petition for the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop, a new rail service from Newcastle to Edinburgh via Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park has now reached 1040 signatures

The Route

The maps below illustrate the wider context of the rail routes through Northumberland, with the Newcastle to Berwick (and on to Edinburgh) section shown in purple on the top right of the map below.

Route map of rail and Metro in North East England

Zooming into the top right quarter of the map, it can be seen that the current Ashington to Newcastle ‘Northumberland Line’ has been extended to Newbiggin as a potential ‘future network’ diagram, but also shows the existing link west from Bedlington towards Morpeth, but also the Morpeth North Curve that offers a direct Bedlington to Pegswood route too.

The North Tyneside/Northumberland Coast routes

This latter link is what enables the Northumberland Coast Loop, so a train from Newcastle to Edinburgh could run up the Northumberland Line route as far as Bedlington, before turning west and running along the route parallel to Barrington Road, over the level crossing at the former White Swan pub at Choppington on the A1068 and heading to Hepscott, the line splits in two at Hepscott Junction (shown below), where the left hand line heads to Morpeth Station, whilst the right hand line is the Morpeth North Curve towards Pegswood.

Once back on the East Coast Main Line, trains would use the same route as all other mainline trains between Newcastle and Edinburgh already do, but the modest ‘loop’ taking trains nearer the Northumberland coastal towns like Blyth gives the route its name, and could serve the many major settlements in that area well, giving them a direct route to Edinburgh alongside the highly successful route to Newcastle already in operation for nearly a year.