By rail to Bebby! A return trip to Blyth Bebside from Alnmouth via Newcastle

Yesterday was my first opportunity to travel to Blyth Bebside station, the most recent station to open on the Northumberland Line (fourth of the six new stations), and a potentially key one on the Northumberland Coast Loop, for reasons which will hopefully become clearer as this blog post progresses.

Tickets for todays trip to Blyth Bebside from Alnmouth

Northumberland Coast Loop Edinburgh to Newcastle rail service via Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park

Blyth Bebside is the first of the potential ‘semi-fast’ station stops completed, with Northumberland Park due in early 2026 by most recent estimates. Taking a good look at the station was to confirm that this station would be ideally placed for such a service, which to me it would be; it direct serves the largest town in Northumberland (Blyth), but is also well connected to many of the other largest towns too.

Cramlington (second largest Northumberland town) is easily accessed via the A189 Spine Road, or the A193/B1505 Horton Road, and has already existing bus links (Arriva X9) via Bebside Front Street running near to the station. The A189 route would also provide an easy direct bus link between the station and NSECH hospital a few miles down the road.

Hathery Lane, linking the former Three Horseshoes pub and East Hartford area to Blyth Bebside via a car free route could also be upgraded and a shortcut created at the station end (linking Errington Street to Hathery Lane to the south of Front Street) to make a much easier and safer active travel route to the station too.

Ashington (third largest town) is also easily accessed via the A189 Spine Road, and also has existing bus links such as the Arriva 1 headed into Cowpen Road, as well as the obvious interchange between rail services at Blyth Bebside station itself (all Northumberland Line trains call at the station, with proposed new stations at Woodhorn and Newbiggin by the Sea also feeding through the station.

Ashington is probably a bit too distant to consider active travel for most, but extending the cycle route that parallels the A189 further towards Blyth Bebside, and perhaps connect the Wansbeck bridge and Blyth (Kitty Brewster bridge) direct would make this more viable.

Bedlington (fourth largest town in Northumberland) is similarly to Ashington linked by bus and rail connections to Blyth Bebside, and easily reached via the A193 route from the Bedlington Red Lion ‘top end’ area, as well as the A189 Spine Road, as is also well connected via Bebside Furnace Road as a potential active travel route.

As can be seen above, the four largest towns in Northumberland, together making up a vast proportion of residents in the county as a whole could be served well by Blyth Bebside, as well as smaller communities nearby, for example Choppington, Stakeford, Cambois etc.

This station would also have far easier access than is presently possible to/from Morpeth railway station, which is not linked directly by rail ( Morpeth may get some connectivity to Bedlington in the near future, but no direct link from Blyth, Ashington etc meaning two changes of train to reach destination such as Edinburgh).

If you’d like to support the campaign for the Newcastle to Edinburgh via Blyth rail service, please sign the petition here: https://c.org/zThXj8HBpY

Returning to the Alnmouth to Blyth Bebside trip

Early that morning, I embarked from my local station at Alnmouth bound for Blyth Bebside via Newcastle Central, and the first train was Voyager 220001, working 1V52 between Edinburgh and Darlington, departing on-time at 07:08.

Interestingly, this unit would be one easily capable of doing the direct ‘Northumberland Coast Loop’ route via Bedlington, being a four coach diesel train; no problems with the absence of overhead wires, or the length of the train being longer than the platform (which again will be addressed further on in the blog too).

Route map showing the northern link between Pegswood and Bedlington, enabling a direct service

The only obvious requirements that are outstanding would be route clearance for the Voyager fleet via Bedlington, development of appropriate driver knowledge (all drivers need to know their train route in high levels of detail for safety), and appropriate paths to be able to deviate from the east coast main line (ECML) from Morpeth North Junction to Benton Junction.

A direct run from Alnmouth to Blyth Bebside is possible due to the Morpeth North Curve, which allows trains from the north to curve off the ECML shortly after crossing Pegswood Viaduct over the River Wansbeck, bound for Bedlington. This route would be a single seat (no need to change trains), and would save approximately 30-40 minutes compared to the indirect route via Newcastle.

Alnmouth to Central Station

Returning to yesterdays trip, the Voyager run was timetabled to take 26 minutes to reach Newcastle, and due to arrive at 07:34, which it did on-time.

Voyager 220 001 arriving at Alnmouth 25.10.25

Changing at Central Station

As can be seen below, arrival on the CrossCountry Voyager was on-time into Newcastle, allowing a full 14 minutes to change train, with some of this time used to nip into Sainburys at the station.

The second leg aboard Northern 156463, 25.10.25

The next leg of the journey was aboard Northern 156463, standing in Platform 1 at Newcastle, and it got away bang on time working the 2T11 at 07:48 bound for Ashington.

LNER app train tracker, a brilliant feature for customer information.

Boots on the ground at Blyth Bebside station

Again arriving bang on schedule, at 08:17, 156463 dropped me off at the brand new Blyth Bebside Station, somewhat breezy and cool in yesterdays wind!

156463 departing Blyth Bebside station 25.10.25

Possible platform extensions at Blyth Bebside?

Like the rest of the Northumberland Line stations, the design is utilitarian and functional, but nicely finished off. It would outwardly appear from the station site that extension of the platforms to serve longer trains would be possible here, with an ample length of line in either direction to allow for future expansion of the station, should longer trains of nine or ten carriages be used to serve the Northumberland Coast Loop.

View of the station from Platform 2, the northbound side of the line.

Looking north towards the A193 level crossing (site of the previous Bebside station)

Looking south towards tbe rail bridge over the A189 Spine Road (quite a distance beyond the curve in the track)

View east from the car park towards the new footbridge over the A189 and Blyth’s Starbucks outlet.

Blyth Bebside bus & rail interchange, plus large car park.

After exiting the station via the Heather Lea estate, it brought me out onto Front Street in Bebside, part of the A193 route, which starts at the Bedlington Red Lion roundabout, and heads through Blyth, towards Tynemouth and ends in central Newcastle.

This road is a major bus route in/out of Blyth, served by the regular Arriva X9 service between Blyth Bus station and Haymarket via Cramlington Town Centre.

Front Street looking west towards the ‘top end’ of Bedlington (Red Lion)

The Bebside Inn, a local landmark next to the level crossing; with the original station at Bebside a bit further north and closer to this pub, but still on the south side of the level crossing.

Crossing the A189 via the A193 junction, and looking south towards the new bridge linking the station to the bottom of the ASDA car park and Chase Farm Drive

These images from Google Maps show the risky pedestrian crossings where the busy slip roads to/from the A189 meet the roundabout on the A193.

No. 2 bus entering Blyth stopped at ‘Interchange’, which is passed by the 1, 2, X9, and X30 buses, and is a reasonable walking distance to Blyth Bebside station.

Bus exiting Blyth via the ‘interchange’ stops next to ‘big ASDA’ in Blyth.

New bridge to link Blyth Bebside to Blyth

As part of the new station, and to avoid large numbers of pedestrians and cyclists using the A193 bridges to reach the station, a new bridge has been built over the A189 Spine Road, creating a much more traffic free route between the town of Blyth and Blyth Bebside station.

What was also clear from a brief observation is that drop-off/pick-up of passengers using the station on the ASDA/Starbucks side of the line will potentially be quite significant, as it avoids the congestion associated with driving to the station car park on the far side of the A189. Potentially the ASDA/Starbucks outlet on the eastern end of the bridge will stand to benefit from this passing trade though.

Despite a relatively quiet and chilly early Saturday morning in October, the new bridge was proving quite busy

A far safer and easier crossing of the A189 than via the busy slip roads to/from the A189.

Approaching Blyth Bebside station from the new bridge.

Train approaching Blyth Bebside from the connecting path.

View from the footbridge looking east towards the Port of Blyth and the Starbucks outlet on the opposite side of the bridge.

The return trip to Alnmouth

Once again, 156463 was the train of the day on the Northumberland Line stretch of the trip, arriving on-time once again on 2T18 at 10:08 for the journey back to Central Station. Leaving Bebside the train had a good number of passengers aboard, but towards Newcastle, the two carriage train was running well filled indeed, demonstrating the clearly high demand on this newly opened line.

A dozen or so passengers awaiting to board ‘463

The crowd leaving ‘463 at Newcastle Central bound for Toon or other connections

Now empty ‘463 waiting to head back to Ashington again in Platform 1.

Arrival back at Newcastle was again on-time at 10:34, with a shorter 9 minute wait for changing onto the LNER service to head home.

Of particular note on this service was the guard going the extra mile for two wheelchair users who boarded the train, and were sat nearby on the way into Newcastle.

Last leg back to Alnmouth

The last of the four trains yesterday was LNER 801229 working 1S06, departing Newcastle at 10:43. Not letting the side down, all trains ran perfectly to time, were all clean and comfortable and staff encountered on each were great; the lady checking tickets on the LNER train in particular was very cheerful and friendly.

Approaching the beautiful Alnmouth village by train, one of my favourite views!

801229 is passed by an unidentified CrossCountry train at Alnmouth

Conclusion

All in all, yesterday was one of those days that shows the railway at its best; everything ran like clockwork, and everyone got where they needed to be on-time, and ALL of the staff were great, all friendly and helpful whenever they were interacting with passengers.

Journey Times

Compared to travelling by bus, the rail route via Newcastle is still a much faster trip, but still is over an hour, compared to driving between Alnmouth/Alnwick and Blyth in c.40mins. If the Northumberland Coast Loop route is implemented, it could reduce journey times by rail significantly, probably to around a 30 minute trip between Blyth Bebside and Alnmouth stations, representing a 30-40 minute reduction in journey time, and also elimination of a change of train.

Capacity

With the lack of available Sprinter trains to make all Northumberland Line trains four carriages in length, the proposed use of units like the Voyagers could increase seating substantially if added alongside the existing Northumberland Line passenger trains.

If, for example 220 001 had ran via Bedlington to reach Blyth Bebside direct from Alnmouth, and ran alongside the Sprinters such as 156 463, it would have added extra seats towards Newcastle from Blyth Bebside, but also would have released capacity on other trains, as I would not have needed to occupy one seat south into Newcastle, then another seat north towards Blyth Bebside.

This could go some way to freeing up some extra capacity on the existing Northumberland Line trains, allowing the line to carry more people and provide more economic return on the investment, as easier and faster rail access to/from north Northumberland and Scotland to towns such as Blyth will drive businesses to base themselves there.

As stated in previous blog posts, Edinburgh and Glasgow are linked by FOUR rail routes, whilst Newcastle and Edinburgh presently only has one; the Northumberland Coast Loop route, if implemented could become a second route between the two cities, boosting the economy of the region. Let’s hope that it is duly considered as a next phase of the rail network in Northumberland.

If you’d like to support the petition, please do so here: https://www.change.org/p/start-a-newcastle-edinburgh-rail-service-via-blyth-bebside-and-northumberland-park/exp/cl_/cl_sharecopy_490421148_en-GB/10/679068674?recruiter=679068674&recruited_by_id=f8c66ca0-ee1b-11e6-b726-5dfd818fd527&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_content=cl_sharecopy_490421148_en-GB%3A10

All the A’s: Ashington World Cup of Stations Win & The Aln Valley Railway – Alnwick (Lionheart) to Alnmouth Station advancing forward?

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.

Old AVR booklet c.1997 purchased recently from Barter Books

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).

Modern units for commuter service; still a good idea for Alnmouth to Alnwick (Lionheart)?

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?

Digital brochure for the Revolution VLR train

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.

Blyth Bebside Station Opened! Trains to Edinburgh in the future?

Yesterday, on Sunday 19th October 2025, Blyth Bebside station became the fourth of the six new stations on the Northumberland Line to open, and from footage and images shared online, which shows the great active travel connections into Blyth (new bridge over the A189 Spine Road), as well some of the first trains to call at the station.

The two stations that now remain to be opened are Bedlington, and Northumberland Park, both of which which are due to open in early 2026.

For now, the Northumberland Line largely operates as a shuttle between Ashington and Newcastle Central, with some trains soon to be extended on Sundays only to the MetroCentre, but the line could be used for more…

Blyth Bebside to Edinburgh?

This campaign, which seeks to see the ‘Northumberland Coast Loop’ developed as a regularly operated route, which would see trains from Newcastle take the Northumberland Line to Bedlington, but then take the westward line through Hepscott towards Pegswood, rejoining the East Coast Main Line (ECML) at Morpeth North Junction, and run to Berwick-Upon-Tweed for local trains (Newcastle to Berwick via Blyth); but also long distance, semi-fast (limited stop) services between Newcastle and Edinburgh to run via this route too.

Route map of the proposed ‘Northumberland Coast Loop’, using the existing railfreight link from Bedlington to Pegswood.

Blyth Bebside is one of the ‘key’ stations on this proposed route, where we suggest that semi-fast trains between Newcastle and Edinburgh via ‘the loop’ would call, as well as the yet to be completed Northumberland Park.

Route map of the Northumberland Coast Loop, the second potential route between Newcastle and Edinburgh via Blyth and North Tyneside

Our petition for the route is making steady progress, and is steadily progressing towards 1000 signatures, if you’d like to sign it, please do so!

Why Blyth Bebside?

This station was selected as it is perhaps the most ideally suited of the N’land Line stations to act as a ‘hub’ for long distance services as it is in a very strategic location; it serves the largest town in Northumberland directly, but compared to the other station serving the town of Blyth at Newsham, Blyth Bebside is in an easier to reach location from other towns.

Bedlington was discounted for semi-fast services due to its very constained location for platforms; which are limited by the track layout, with Bedlington Junction at the NW end, and level crossing at the opposite SE end, and a further junction for sidings only just beyond that!

Google Maps image showing the level crossing and junction for Furnaceway Sidings in close proximity to Bedlington Station.

In contrast, Blyth Bebside is a much simpler site, with a fair distance between the platforms and the level crossing/bridge over the A189 a fair distance in each direction, potentially allowing relatively easy platform lengthening if required in future.

Blyth Bebside station very much ‘in the distance’ from Bebside Level Crossing

Active Travel (Walking, Cycling, etc)

Blyth Bebside station is nearby to the coastal Route 1 on the National Cycle Network, and is also at a convergence of many other footpaths and cycle routes connecting Bedlington (Bebside Furnace Road towards the Bank Top pub in Bedlington) and Cramlington (such as Hathery Lane towards the former Three Horseshoes pub/East Hartford), making it ideally placed for multiple towns to connect into.

Buses and Cars

Blyth Bebside station is adjacent to the crossroads of the A189 Spine Road and A193, which are both major bus routes into and out of Blyth, as well as easily accessible to motorists from a very wide area surrounding the station. This again makes Blyth Bebside ideally placed as a strategic interchange between rail and bus services, as well as those arriving by taxi, or own private car.

Rail

The station is also in a great position for rail connectivity; towns like Ashington that cannot be served directly by the proposed loop route will still have an easy interchange at Blyth Bebside as all trains running to Ashington pass via that route anyway, the same applying for extension of the line to Woodhorn, Newbiggin by the Sea, or Lynemouth.

Example Trip

Ashington to Edinburgh: a hypothetical trip from a home in Ashington to visit Edinburgh could be done in multiple ways, a quick taxi/lift/car trip down the A189 to Blyth Bebside, and join a northbound train there for the Scottish capital, or using the railway, just two stops down the Northumberland Line, over the bridge to change platforms and again board the northbound rail servive to Edinburgh.

In reverse, the same would apply, arriving back at Blyth Bebside, it would either be getting a taxi/lift/car back to Ashington, or jumping onto a Northumberland Line train to head home.

Blyth Bebside vs Central Station or Morpeth

InterCity rail services being introduced between Newcastle and Edinburgh via Blyth hold a few key advantages over the present status quo of connecting onto long-distance services via Newcastle Central or Morpeth.

Newcastle Central is too far south; adding significantly to journey times

Travel times on the Northumberland Line from Blyth Bebside to Newcastle Central are usually 28-30mins, then entail a waiting time at Newcastle (to get off N’land Line train, change platforms and join next service is usually at least 5 minutes to allow sufficient time for change of train), then even the fastest services take approx 15mins to pass through Pegswood an overall total time of around 50 minutes (as borne out by Google Maps below, which involves a change of train at Manors), compared to a direct trip from Blyth Bebside to Pegswood via Hepscott, which takes around 15 minutes by rail.

Public Transport as of 20.10.25 between newly opened Blyth Bebside and Morpeth Stations

More detail of the rail trip between Blyth Bebside, Manors, and Morpeth

This means that from Blyth Bebside, the direct route would represent an approximately 30 minutes (half an hour) of time saved in each direction compared to travelling south into Newcastle to change train, then travel north again, for a day-out, that would mean an extra hour overall, either spent enjoying an activity North Northumberland or Scotland, or being home earlier at the end of day out.

Not only that, but a smaller station is easier to understand for less familiar rail users, and if travelling with luggage, small children etc (being ‘encumbered’), reducing the number of changes of train, and ideally travelling on a single seat as much as possible is helpful to promote rail use to those less confident with using passenger trains.

Morpeth is awkward to reach

Again from Blyth Bebside, Morpeth is an awkward station to reach; there is no proposal for a direct rail service to Morpeth from here (there is a proposal for a Newcastle to Bedlington via Morpeth route), meaning that to reach Morpeth by rail, would mean change of train at Bedlington, again adding to journey times, and is relatively inconvenient given such short distances.

A solution to this would be to extend services to Blyth Bebside/Newsham rather than terminating at Bedlington, but this may require additional infrastructure such as a turnback siding being constructed, and may not fit within the current gap in the timetable allowing a ‘Bedlington and back’ extension of the route as proposed.

Using buses, though direct is also a very slow option, with a combination of the X9 and 43 buses (again change of bus mid-journey), taking 36 minutes, only five minutes faster than cycling.

Bus connections between Blyth Bebside and Morpeth stations

As can be seen above even for buses running reasonably directly between Blyth Bebside and Morpeth stations, the journey times are poor, taking at least 36 minutes for the trip, and that involving a change of bus from the X9 onto the 43 at Heather Lea. The 2 service offers a direct link, but there no time saving, taking 36 minutes for the trip.

The 2: the ‘direct’ bus between Blyth Bebside and Morpeth

Morpeth is a fairly short drive, being around 15 minutes, but that adds to congestion problems in Blyth, Bedlington, Choppington and Morpeth itself, and with a highly constrained car park at Morpeth, which is also often quite full, and parking charges can also be significant, that acts to deter rail use, compared to driving the entire journey instead.

Direct trains to Edinburgh from Blyth Bebside could be an answer to these issues?

Given the challenges of ‘travelling south to go north’ to change at Newcastle (and also using up limited seating capacity to do so), or getting across to Morpeth to catch trains there, the logical solution might be to take the trains to the people; after all, Blyth IS the largest Northumberland town, so surely deserves at least some direct connectivity to other major cities, even if just a fraction of what its much smaller counterpart Morpeth gets.

Direct trains could also have the benefit of adding to seating capacity; an additional train running InterCity between Newcastle and Edinburgh via Blyth Bebside, alongside the existing Northumberland Line trains would put more seats onto the route, allowing people to do Newcastle to Blyth Bebside, whilst those headed northwards would jump into the now empty seat, and wouldn’t be using seats towards Newcastle and towards Morpeth either, thereby releasing capacity on other trains.

Extra carriages on some Northumberland Line trains from October 2025, but N.C.L. option still open?

With the fourth station on the line at Blyth Bebside due to open tomorrow (19th October 2025), and already around 700,000 passengers having travelled on the Northumberland Line since it opened less than a year ago (15th December 2024), there have been many of the two carriage trains becoming overwhelmed by the volume of passengers using the services, with occasionally passengers being unable to board due to how full the trains are.

To help ease this problem (in many ways a good one, in that the line is being far more successful than was predicted, and proves the ‘build it, and they will come’ of major public transport investment), the operator of trains, Northern, is putting on extra carriages where possible at peak times to provide added capacity, but a shortage of diesel multiple units (DMU’s) like the Class 156 and 158 used on the route, as well as others across the UK nationally is an issue.

The statement in the article that ‘Northern have introduced extra carriages on some of its services and will continue to closely monitor capacity with a view to meeting demand wherever possible.‘ is an encouraging one, but does suggest that what might be possible could be limited in scope, due to the availability of old units like the Class 156 and 158 trains, which are stretched thinly across the UK.

Encouragingly, the article does also state that ‘Programme partners will continue to explore all options to provide more capacity for customers, while acknowledging the real practical difficulties because of the shortage of suitable vehicles nationally.‘ so perhaps our suggestion of using other trains, such as the TPE Nova 1 fleet, CrossCountry or other diesel/bi-mode units to run the Newcasyle to Edinburgh via Bedlington route, and thus augment the Northumberland Line services (run alongside the Northern trains) has happily not been ruled out, and the other major advantage of this would be offering direct services from this immensely popular reopened line serving south east Northumberland, into North Northumberland and Scotland.

Map of the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop, showing the possibility to return to the ECML near Pegswood via the existing freight line from Bedlington Junction to Morpeth North Junction

Our petition for this is steadily reaching 1000 signatures, and if you’d like to add yours, please do so here: https://www.change.org/p/start-a-newcastle-edinburgh-rail-service-via-blyth-bebside-and-northumberland-park/exp/cl_/cl_sharecopy_490421148_en-GB/10/679068674?recruiter=679068674&recruited_by_id=f8c66ca0-ee1b-11e6-b726-5dfd818fd527&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_content=cl_sharecopy_490421148_en-GB%3A10

Extra carriages on some Northumberland Line trains from October 2025, but N.C.L. option still open?

Northumberland Line: 700,000 passengers passed!

In a Facebook post today (16.10.25) from Northumberland County Council, council leader Glen Sanderson stood at Blyth Bebside, the next station due to open on the Northumberland Line, which will mark four of the six stations new completed and opened to passengers, showcasing what the completed station will look like ahead of opening.

In the same post, he also announced that 700,000 passengers had been reached in 10 months since the opening of the line on 15th December 2024, 306 days ago to be more precise.

A simple average of the total passenger volume (700,000) shared by the number of operating days (306) means an average per day of 2,288 passengers per day (rounded up to nearest whole number) using the line daily.

At that rate, a MILLION passengers on the line should be achieved in late 2025/early 2026, phenomenally beyond even the most optimistic expectations of the most optimistic people backing the project, and showing clearly the ‘build it, and they will come‘ analogy has rung very true with regards the Northumberland Line.

Next steps?

With such a roaring success comes an issue; the often two carriage Class 158/156 units are often struggling to carry all the passengers desiring to use the line, and there aren’t any easy options to get more similar carriages to make trains up to four on every train.

Our route map for the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop

Our proposed solution is to redirect some current East Coast Main Line (ECML) services via Bedlington, possible along the existing route from Morpeth North Junction (w3w: ///insects.hamsters.issuer), curving off the mainline coming from Pegswood heading south, passing through Hepscott, then joining the Northumberland Line at Bedlington Junction.

Sending some trains, such as the Transpennine Express Nova 1 fleet (which is capable of running on either a diesel engine or from overhead wires, and can achieve 125mph when on the ECML) could be one solution: it would add valuable extra seats on the Northumberland Line to/from Newcastle if ran in addition to the Northern trains, but would also give direct northbound connections from towns like Blyth into North Northumberland (i.e. Blyth to Berwick Upon Tweed direct), or ideally into Edinburgh Waverley, linking the Scottish capital to Newcastle via south east Northumberland proper.

This would have the side benefit of developing diversionary route knowledge for train drivers; which potentially might have been needed during the issues with Plessey Viaduct in October 2023 and the ensuing repairs required had both lines been closed entirely.

Screenshot from the York Mix article on Plessey Viaduct

Fortunately, the damaged viaduct remained partially open until repairs were completed, but driver knowledge of the diversionary route via Bedlington would certainly be of benefit in added resilience for rail services, and one of the best ways to achieve, and to maintain route knowledge is regular running of trains over the route.

Our petition for a Newcastle to Edinburgh via Bedlington service is steadily growing, standing at just under 1000 signatures so far, if you’d like to sign it too, please do so here: https://c.org/J8DxHqpWdf

Thanks for reading, RH.

Newsham and other stations vs Arriva buses?

It has been good to see the BBC News coverage recently (14.10.25) about lack of direct bus services to the new station at Newsham on the Northumberland Line, after our blog post on 2nd October titled ‘New railway station at Newsham; but no buses to it!‘.

The original blog post, 2nd October 2025.

The company operating buses, Arriva (now owned by a Miami based investment fund called I Squared Capital, having been sold by Deutsche Bahn, the German state railway in 2024, who in turn had owned it since 2010.) has seemingly refused to serve the platform adjacent stop, stating that the buses already call a short distance away, and that adding extra time to journeys would be ‘without much benefit‘, according to the Arriva North East spokesperson.

To quote directly from the above sale annoucement however, ‘Mike Cooper, CEO of Arriva Group, said: “We want to see a future where people choose to leave their car at home, a future with less traffic congestion and cleaner air.‘ So surely serving Newsham station (and other railway stations) better is surely a clear way to achieve this goal?

Improved connections to and from the railway station, delivered through a fully integrated bus service, is likely to help with the choice of ‘leaving the car at home‘, which especially in a town as congested as Blyth, would make a huge difference almost immediately, and especially to the parking problems being experienced around the new station Newsham due to high demand for rail services, but the relatively poor inward or outward public transport connections mean that many view driving to the station as the only viable option.

Whilst the existing bus stops may, or may not be far away from the station depending on your own opinion, an ‘ideal’ situation surely is an ‘as close as possible‘ interchange between rail and bus services; so where feasible, a dedicated station bus stop on a turning circle or within a station car park is clearly the preferable option to be served compared to a ‘nearby street’.

For everyone, but especially those with mobility issues, travelling with items of luggage, small children etc, or even just in poor weather conditions such as rain, snow, or wind; a close interchange is obviously of huge benefit, and worth the minor detour (as shown below) of the bus service itself to serve the station directly. Even in perfect weather, an easily visble bus stop near the platform is more obvious than needing directions to a bus stop a few streets away.

Whilst Arriva can be forgiven to some extent for Newsham being a relatively ‘new’ station, it having been open for less a year (opened in March 2025), and thus sticking with its existing bus routes for a while; now that the station, and the Northumberland Line more broadly is proving so popular, with over 650,000 passengers, it is perhaps time to adapt to this major change and begin running there directly?

Arriva elsewhere in Northumberland

This is a wider and more long-running issue with Arriva at other stations such as in Cramlington or Morpeth where their buses have never, to my knowledge, served the station turning circles, but other bus operators have done this from time to time, showing that it CAN be done.

In North Northumberland, there is also a stong desire to see better connections from towns such as Amble and Alnwick to Alnmouth station, with a petition now standing at 826 signatures for a dedicated ‘Bus Meets Train’ service to augment other buses to and from the station.

With buses receiving subsidies from the North East Combined Authority for things like the £2.50 fare cap, hopefully a better integation of buses and trains might be achieved by making serving stations a condition of subsidy?

As the major operator of buses in Northumberland, it is clear that more could be done throughout the county by Arriva to ensure better bus and rail integration, which has multiple benefits for local residents, but also for the many tourists to our region, there is literally a zero downside to a better integrated public transport system.

Another recent article highlighting tourism issues identified by Mayor McGuinness is a good case in point; buses linking to rail services in a co-ordinated fashion would help make many attractions easier to visit, especially as a bus can act as a mobile billboard for them, such as the ‘Poison Garden’ branded bus, as seen in Alnwick Bus Station below.

Could there be ‘Blyth Battery’ or ‘Bamburgh Castle’ branded bus services too?

Public Transport: Integration is better than false competition.

This is an issue that stems more broadly from the privatisation and deregulation of buses back in the 1980’s, so that rather than co-ordinated and integrated system, public transport still takes a Victorian ‘competitive’ approach that the bus services are attempting to compete with trains, when really both would benefit from working as part of a single larger system.

Buses are advantageous in providing access to places a train cannot viably reach; central Blyth is unlikely to ever again see rail services due to the loss of the branchline into the centre and the development on the routes into the town since then have probably precluded it being rebuilt, but an integrated system of buses linking both Newsham and Blyth Bebside station into the town centre is a reasonable alternative.

Similarly, other stations such as Morpeth or Alnmouth, that act as hubs for a much wider area, and offer UK wide connections are relatively poorly connected by buses, which is an absurd situation in many ways.

Indeed, better integration of buses and rail would likely boost Arriva by additional ticket sales; more than compensating for the tiny additional distance and time required.

As an example, the fastest Blyth Bus Station to Haymarket service, the X10, takes 54mins for its trip end to end; but would three minutes extra, to run via the Newsham Station bus stop make that much difference?

X10 route from Blyth Bus Station to Newcastle Haymarket

Existing loop in the X10 route via Walsham Close, why can’t a second smaller loop be made via Newsham Station?

How far away are the alternative stops?

Using Google Maps, an approximate journey time can be ascertained for the walking distances to and from Newsham station to both the Blagdon Drive bus stops (for the X8 service to/from Blyth Town Centre), and the Park Farm Villas bus stops (for the X10 and X30 buses).

Whilst neither of the current stops could be described as ‘a million miles away’ from the station, they are still a fair walking distance away, and especially for a disabled person or someone unfamiliar with the area could present issues, for the fairly for a simple and very modest short re-routing of a bus service to obviate the whole issue entirely.

Blagdon Drive Bus Stop to Newsham Station

The bus stops on Blagdon Drive for the X8, which are located just to the east of the new roundabout to the east of Newsham station (map below orientated east up), are the closest stops to the new bus stop within the station car park, but would also mean the smallest detour of bus route to serve the station bus stop, as the route already crosses to/from the east side of the Northumberland Line.

Location of Blagdon Drive bus stop relative to Newsham Railway Station.

Approximate walking distance to Newsham Station from Blagdon Drive bus stop to the east of the station.

As can be seen above, the Blagdon Drive bus stop is a fairly modest 4 minute, 290m distant, and mostly flat walking route for passengers changing between the X8 bus and trains calling at Newsham station, but as can be seen below, a deviation of the bus route would represent an approximate two minutes of additional time compared to present situation of ignoring the stop.

The direct route between Laverock Hall Farm and Blyth Battery ignoring the station bus stop is an 8 min expected journey time for a car.

The same start and end points via Newsham Station would represent circa two minute diversion, and extra 400m of bus route.

With such a minor diversion of the bus route (c.2 mins) in exchange for a much improved connection between the X8 and Northumberland Line rail services, then hopefully Arriva will change their mind about this route being amended to serve the station, especially if requested as part of the subsidy arrangements that companies like Arriva receive for operating buses at reasonable cost.

Park Farm Villas to Newsham Station

The current bus routes of the X10 and X30 run near to the Northumberland Line, but instead of passing over the line near Newsham station, instead head north and in parallel along the B1523, passing near to the station.

As can be seen, again a circa 4 minute, 300m walk isn’t a huge distance, but for those with mobility problems, heavy luggage, small children, or even those simply being unfamiliar with the area, a bus stop well out of sight of the station is not a welcoming way to encourage use.

Example route avoiding Newsham Station, from Laverock Hall Farm to Co-op Food, New Delaval.

Route between Laverock Hall Farm and the New Delaval Co-op, but running via Newsham Station bus stop, a c.3min diversion and extra 600m on the bus route.

As can be seen from the maps above, diversion of the X8, X10, and X30 buses to serve Newsham Station is not an outrageous request, it would represent a matter of under 4 minutes to run the bus via Newsham Stations own bus stop, even for those having to cross the new bridge and go back again, yet would provide massively better bus & rail integration.

Hopefully Arriva may test out a diversion of the bus routes to at least assess the impact of the change as a compromise?

The Northumberland Line passes 650,000 journeys!

In this article from the Northumberland Gazette, which discusses the opening of the fourth station on the line at Blyth Bebside next Sunday, the 19th October 2025, gave great news for passenger figures on the line.

So far, two stations, one at Ashington, and the other at Seaton Delaval, opened with the line itself on 15th December 2024, and the third station at Newsham, opened shortly afterwards on the 17th March 2025.

Tickets to travel to and from Blyth Bebside are now available to purchase, and to quote the article itself:

‘It comes after the Northumberland Line reopened to passengers – for the first time in 60 years – in December 2024. Since then, they have used it to make more than 650,000 journeys.

Services, which are run by Northern, have proved to be very popular during weekends and school holidays. But the train operator has also seen a growing number of commuters and students using weekday services in recent months.‘

With the first anniversary of the line fast approaching on 15th December 2025, perhaps it is not outlandish to suggest that the volume of journeys will be fast approaching a three quarters of a million by then, with a simple average of 650,000 passengers in 302 days (15.12.24 to 12.10.25) meaning that 2,152 passengers/day are using the line on average, and if the same rate is maintained in the coming 60 days, it would add approximately 135,000 additional journeys onto the 650,000 already made.

A huge success, but one that could be boosted even further if the Northumberland Coast Loop is added as an option for direct connections to North Northumberland and Scotland?

The petition is inching ever closer to 1000 signatures, could your signature be next?

Chathill station planning application for station improvements submitted

A recent Northumberland Gazette article has detailed how Sella Controls is intending to install two post mounted displays, one on each platform, to upgrade the passenger information systems at the station.

Please click the link above for further information.

McGuinness, Lavery, and Foody push for earlier opening of last Northumberland Line Stations, and the N.C.L. fix for full Northern trains.

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, alongside MP’s Ian Lavery, and Emma Foody, have published on Facebook an open letter yesterday to Ellie Burrows, Regional Managing Director, Eastern of Network Rail to request the earliest possible opening of the last two stations under construction on the Northumberland Line scheme, those at Bedlington, and Northumberland Park, with Blyth Bebside due to open in just over a week on Sunday 19th October 2025.

Whilst it is important to have these stations up and running as soon as possible, it must also be done safely and not unduly rushed despite the delays of potentially a year or more since the opening of the line on 15th December 2024, which itself was a slipped deadline from the original ‘Summer 2023’ opening of the line.

Crowding and More Carriages Comments, and TPE via the Northumberland Coast Loop route a solution?

Of note on the Facebook post was the comments calling for more carriages to be provided on the Northumberland Line due to issues of crowding being experienced due to the high popularity of the route, some examples are shown below (anonymised)

The problem is that the Northern units (Class 156/158) that are used on the Northumberland Line are around 30 year old British Rail trains, and are thinly stretched across all of the Northern routes; pulling a unit from one route would make another one short of trains – very much ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’.

There simply isn’t anywhere to get new units of the same design, and whilst new trains for Northern are in the pipeline, it’ll be quite some time until they are seen on the network.

Transpennine Express (TPE) via Blyth?

What I would propose is a re-routing of some Transpennine Express (TPE) units (the Nova 1 bi-mode fleet), which are short, 5-car trains which currently run Newcastle to Edinburgh via Morpeth and Cramlington to alternatively run via Blyth and Northumberland Park. These could add around 320+ seats, with some in First Class to the route.

As a bi-mode train, they can run on both the overhead electric wires, but also have an onboard diesel engines, which would allow them to come off the East Coast Main Line at Morpeth North Junction (https://w3w.co/insects.hamsters.issuer), then travel through Hepscott, over Choppington Level Crossing, and join the Northumberland Line at Bedlington, and could augment the Northern operated Northumberland Line trains by providing more trains, and thus more seats to/from Newcastle, but also to give a connection northwards to places like Alnmouth, Berwick Upon Tweed, and Edinburgh direct.

Alternative operators could also serve the route if TPE is unable to; CrossCountry for example uses diesel ‘Voyagers’ (Class 220) in four car sets, which could run via Blyth rather than via Morpeth and Cramlington.

A further example could be Grand Central trains extending their current London – Sunderland ‘North Eastern’ route through Newcastle and to Edinburgh via Blyth, again providing more seats, but also offering a new direct link between the Scotland and the Northumberland Coast onto the Durham Coast and Teesside.

Indeed a combination of different operators would be possible, but any additional trains running via the Northumberland Coast Loop and serving the stations would ease the crowding experienced on some services, whilst also offering new northward connections.

Petition nearing 1000 signatures: https://chng.it/J8DxHqpWdf

As of today, the petition for the Northumberland Coast Loop currently stands at near 1000 signatures, suggesting a strong demand for the route exists, so hopefully Mayot Kim McGuinness, and MP’s Ian Lavery and Emma Foody might put forward this route to help ease the crowding on the Northumberland Line, and give these new stations even better connections to the rest of the UK?