A recent video by the excellent Geoff Marshall (below) details some of the UK’s least served stations (fewest trains per week), which includes the famous four on the Northumberland Coast part of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) of Chathill, Acklington, Widdrington, and Pegswood; but is Chathill in the wrong location on the list?
Chathill error?
One thing that caught the eye was the position of Chathill in the list having fewer services than Pegswood, Widdrington, and Acklington.
If based on passenger carrying departures, then the list is correct, however Chathill is different to the other three in that it is possible to travel northbound and arrive at the station in the morning, whereas the ‘Chathill Flyer’ simply whizzes through Pegswood, Widdrington, and Acklington.
This is purely an unusual quirk of Chathill acting as a terminus; the ‘Chathill Flyer’ terminates for passengers at Chathill, whilst the train itself continues north to a siding at Belford, then reverses, and heads back to Chathill bound for Newcastle once again.
For the stations at Acklington, Widdrington, and Pegswood, the arrivals and departures are one and the same, thrice daily Monday to Saturday giving the correct 18 per week, but for Chathill, there are two arrivals per day, plus two depatures per day giving a total of four trains per day, multiplied by six days giving 24 trains per week.
This would then place Chathill in the same bracket as Havenhouse, Swineshead, Eccles Road, Harling Road, Coombe Junction Halt, Ince and Elton, Sankey for Penketh.
I’ve tried dropping a comment for Geoff on the video itself too, hopefully it’ll be an easy one to correct!
Otherwise another brilliant video from Geoff Marshall, a channel on YouTube well worth subscribing to!
The Northumberland Coast Loop 