On Saturday 27th June 2026, I took a car-free day out to the excellent Chester-Le-Street Steam and Vintage Fair at Lambton Park for the second year running.
Part 1: Alnwick Bus Station to Alnmouth Railway Station
The day started at home, with a short walk to Alnwick Bus Station in glorious sunshine, a few things bought at Morrisons, then aboard the X20 bang on time at 08:37 in the morning.
‘Bus Meets Train’: Fair today, but certainly room to improve.
Apologies for the brief segue, but it is an opportune time to make the case for better bus links between Alnwick and Alnmouth Railway Station.
On the Saturday, the bus departures and train times aligned quite well, meaning only a relatively short waiting time at Alnmouth for the next leg of the journey, BUT on an ordinary weekday, the first bus (X18) from Alnwick towards Alnmouth station doesn’t leave the bus station until 06:48, and also doesn’t run via the actual station, meaning an 8min walk between the bus stop at Hipsburn Roundabout and the railway station itself.
Taking the data from RealtimeTrains for Monday 29th June 2026, as can be seen below, this fairly late departure from Alnwick to Alnmouth means that seven trains, the 05:53, 06:24, 06:27, 06:43, 06:48, 06:55, and the 07:03 are impossible to connect to by bus from Alnwick.
Even the 07:15 and 07:20 trains would rely upon the bus being on-time, with the former a very tight connection even if the bus is running on-time, and a delay of just five to eight minutes would put the connection to the 07:20 at risk.
An X20 at 05:30 & 06:30 in the morning, and earlier opening of Alnmouth Ticket Office?
Therefore, earlier buses departing from Alnwick, with ideally a service timed to comfortably meet the first train of the day at 05:53 would be welcomed, which based on X20 route and journey time of 15 mins would need to leave Alnwick at around 05:30 or slightly later to allow a reasonable connection time to the station (to allow purchase of a rail ticket for example ahead of travel).
Two extra X20 services, or other services following the same route (i.e. smaller operator) with one departing Alnwick at ~05:30, and a second at ~06:30 would keep the roughly hourly X20 service pattern, just bringing the first departure forward by two hours, and an earlier opening time of Alnmouth Ticket Office would also be welcomed so that any passengers awaiting services such as the 06:24 could have an indoor shelter would also be welcomed.
If you would like to support my petition for better bus connections to Alnmouth station, please click here: https://c.org/PtSYF4MvPN
Heading out of Alnwick (and back on track!)
After leaving Alnwick Bus Station, the bus threaded its way around Alnwick, passing Bondgate Tower and Barter Books en-route to Alnmouth Station.
In many ways it is such a pity that Alnwick Station and the branchline into Alnwick itself hadn’t survived; it is almost certain that today it would have been a bustling line similar to the North Berwick line, with North Berwick station having around 566,000 passengers in the 2024/25 period, and lines like the Northumberland Line proving so popular, Alnwick could, had history went differently, a probably bustling branchline carrying perhaps millions of tourists into Alnwick to visit the Castle, Alnwick Garden, and now Lilidorei, but Barter Books possibly wouldn’t occupy the site it does had that been the case.
Perhaps one day the Aln Valley Railway might achieve running a shuttle services from their Lionheart station to Alnmouth with a smaller railcar as they intended to do many years ago, but even then, buses will probably remain an important link for many, many years to come.
Part 2: Alnmouth Station to Chester-Le-Street
The second leg of the journey involved the short walk from the Curly Lane bus stop where I alighted the X20, down to the station itself to buy my tickets at the ticket office.
Of note was a number of fellow passengers making the same journey from Alnwick to Alnmouth station; so it is perhaps a more popular mode than might be expected? Bus ticket data would be interesting to see for this flow to judge its scale if available?
The CrossCountry train was very comfortable, with plenty of seats available and air conditioning working well to keep the carriages cool.
The TPE service was significantly busier than the CrossCountry, but wasn’t overcrowded, and again was nicely cooled by air conditioning.
Part 3: Chester-Le-Street station to the Fair
Arrival at a toasty warm Chester-Le-Street on-time was followed by a c.30min walk across to the event field to the east of the A1(M).
The walk was quite nice, aside from the need to dash over the crossings on the A167 near the BP petrol station, the slip roads at Junction 63 on the A1(M), and crossing the A183, but after those, a pleasant short walk across a bridge over the River Wear and into the Fair!
Chester-Le-Street Steam and Vintage Fair
This is the second year that I have attended this rally, and in my own view, it has improved significantly despite it being an excellent show last year (2025). I spent a lot of time just watching the events taking place in the ‘play pen’ where traction engines, tractors, buses, and cars would have a drive around, and some of the larger vehicles would take a wide range of weighted trailers around to display their machines and capability.
There were an abundance of static exhibits too, and it is certainly a rally I would like to make a regular part of the diary!
If you enjoy classic cars, steam engines, and generally a good day out, it is certainly worth the ticket price, which for one adult was a very reasonable £12 this year.
After a long, but very enjoyable day at the Rally, it was time to head back home!
Part 4: Walk back to Chester-Le-Street station
The walk back, after a long day in the sun and on the feet was a bit slow, but arrival back at Chester-Le-Street was achieved in reasonable time, mostly retracing the route taken that morning.
Part 5: Chester-Le-Street to Alnmouth
Unfortunately, my train back was slightly delayed due to issues on the network with a level crossing, but it was only around 15 minutes late away from Chester-Le-Street and the rest at the station in the shade was most welcomed! Once on the train, it was a quick trip back to Central Station, and back onto a CrossCountry service from Central Station back to Alnmouth.
With the delays on the way home, and a nearly flat phone, I took many fewer pictures to try and save power, as well as checking connections, but there was really plenty of time and no stress about which platform I needed to use to catch the CrossCountry, and had I needed help, there were plenty of staff available at Central Station who I observed helping many other passengers.
Part 6: Bus back to Alnwick
Due to getting back in the late evening, it meant a prolonged wait at Curly Lane for the X18 back to Alnwick at 21:15; not bad on a warm summer evening like Saturday, but wouldn’t be great on a cold winters night; whicg is why ideally a half hourly service is better than hourly, the worst case scenario of a ‘just missed’ bus would mean only a 30min wait time.
The bus arrived a few minutes late, but was quick and comfortable back to Alnwick, with enough time to pop again into Morrisons for a bit of shopping then head home.
All in all a great day out and a success for public transport.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 