On Tuesday 15th April, I attended an excellent presentation, hosted by Morgan Sindall and delivered by local historian Ed Orwin called ‘Newcastle to Ashington By Train: A Journey Through Time’.
This was hosted at the brilliant Energy Central Learning Hub building on Quay Road in Blyth, Northumberland, and in the room were a number of displays about the Northumberland Line, from the origins of the railways in the area, through to today.
The presentation showed the strong focus of the then ‘Blyth and Tyne’ railway in moving coal as it’s primary purpose, with passenger use very much an afterthought in many cases.
It was a very good grounding in why the railway is the shape it is today; one example being that the sheer expense of the wooden viaduct over the River Wansbeck meant that the proposed extension to Warkworth Harbour (present day Amble) was delayed, and ultimately never built.
If you get an opportunity to see Ed doing this presentation again, please try and get to see it, it is packed with information and you can see his real passion for the topic shine through too.
Towards the end, a few teasers of future expansions were suggested, such as to Woodhorn, and Newbiggin by the Sea, both of which would be welcome additions to the network.
Forward into the Future
After leaving the meeting, I needed to make my way home by public transport, having been dropped off by my partner on her way home with the kids.
I was very kindly dropped off at Newsham Station by a fellow attendee of the presentation, if you are reading this, thanks again!
One way trip from Newsham to Alnmouth via Newcastle
The return of the Northumberland Line between Newcastle and Ashington is undoubtedly fantastic, a view obviously shared by the near 250,000 people who have used the line over the last few months since it opened, despite currently only three of the six new stations being open for traffic.
That being said, the above route shows that there could still be more improvements to be made; one of which is to use the direct route from Blyth heading north.
As can be seen from the map below, a connection from Bedlington back onto the East Coast Main Line near Morpeth is already possible using an existing, open line.
The Northumberland Coast Loop through SE Northumberland
Indeed, it is in such a state of readiness that I have actually travelled along it a little over a month ago aboard ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ on 8th March 2025, as operated by SRPS Railtours. Whilst this was a non-stop railtour, it shows the potential of the route as an alternative link between Newcastle and Edinburgh, but serving the SE of Northumberland en-route if trains were to stop at even some of the newly opened stations.
Image of the final leg of ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ between Newcastle and Edinburgh. 158850 from Newsham into Newcastle. While a visit to Newcastle Central is never unpleasant, it would be ideal to use the more direct route! Arrival at my ‘home’ station of Alnmouth, but after a long-winded route via Newcastle.
Such a rail link becoming established would have a number of key benefits;
It would offer better to, from, and within Northumberland connections by adding a fast rail route along the Northumberland Coast to augment bus services, or compete with car travel.
It would offer a more sustainable transport option compared to driving, and would be accessible by a much wider breadth of society.
The route would maintain driver and train crew knowledge in the event of disruption (Plessey Viaduct issues in October 2023 for example).
If you can, please sign the petition above, and if you’d like to support the campaign, please feel welcome to drop a donation via my Ko-fi page: https://ko-fi.com/northumberlandcoastloop
Keswick: A ‘Virtual’ Railway Station for the Lake District town?
A recent article from Rail Advent has shown an interesting way that the town of Keswick, in Cumbria, has gained a new ‘station’ on the national network, served not by trains, but by buses.
In the article, it describes how Keswick has a ‘virtual railway station’; that means Keswick Bus station is also treated as a railway station for ticketing purposes.
This allows a through, fully integrated ticket to be purchased via a number of means (full details on the original Rail Advent article) but for simplicity, is shown here as booking via the Avanti West Coast website, and using Carlisle as a starting point.
This means a simple trip by train from Carlisle (or any other station) to Penrith (North Lakes), then to connect onto local buses (X4 & X5) to Keswick, which the opposite true in reverse.
It is also interesting that local bus operator, Stagecoach, is also now offering a half-hourly bus service on this route between Penrith railway station and Keswick’s ‘virtual’ railway station.
Should Alnwick also have a ‘virtual’ railway station?
Alnwick could be a perfect contender for a similar style of ‘virtual railway station’ if offered by an operator such as LNER, and offer a through service to the town using a combination of rail and buses.
The rail link between Lionheart Station on the Aln Valley Railway and Alnmouth Station on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) is progressing, and hopefully will soon to be realised, but it is highly unlikely that the original Alnwick Station (now home to Barter Books) would ever regain trains (not impossible, but would be challenging and very costly). For now, Lionheart station, on the eastern side of the A1 Alnwick Bypass is as close as rail could reasonably get.
Alnwick Bus Station, by contrast, is within the heart of town, just a short walk from the Market Place, Alnwick Castle, The Alnwick Garden, Lilidorei and even Barter Books.
Alnwick is a tourism hotspot itself in Northumberland (Alnwick Castle has 350,000 visitors per year), and is an excellent base to reach other places by walking, cycling or public transport.
Setting up a virtual railway station, and having a half hourly bus service (as has been prescribed in our Dedicated ‘Bus Meets Train’ petition), would be an excellent way to make travelling to Alnwick by train and bus, easier, more convenient and more sustainable.
Let’s hope that a collaboration between ECML train operators such as LNER, CrossCountry, Transpennine Express and more could enable Alnwick to regain a railway station (even if only a virtual one) and see direct tickets made available.
A great start to April with continued progression of both petitions, and a sizeable growth in both since the last post on the blog on 4.4.25.
Newcastle – Northumberland Park – Blyth Bebside – Edinburgh Rail Service
As of 6.4.25, the rail service petition now stands at 264 signatures, great progress over the last few days with the addition of a further 15 signatures in over those two days. If you haven’t already, please add your signature too via the link above!
Thank you to everyone who has signed the either or both petitions so far, but please help maintain the momentum and keep sharing them with friends and family!
New bridge at Greensfield, the start of the Borderline Greenway on the edge of Alnwick (near to NE66 1SZ)Rugley Road Bridge on the newly opened Borderline Greenway, looking towards EdlinghamCurrent end of the Borderline Greenway on Alnwick MoorB6341 Bridge over the Alnwick and Cornhill Railway, hopefully a next phase for opening.
On Saturday the 29th March 2025, the Borderline Greenway was officially opened to the public; creating an approximately 2 mile long route utilising a section of the former Alnwick and Cornhill Railway from Greensfield on the edge of Alnwick out towards Edlingham station, the current end of the Greenway being where a change of ownership occur.
A continuation of the route is possible at least as far as the B6341 across Alnwick Moor, allowing a large circular route to be walked, though this latter section has not yet seen the improvements that the Borderline Greenway has brought to the former trackbed via cleared drainage, vegetation cut backs and clearance of fallen trees.
Hopefully in the near future, the route beyond the B6341 will also be opened up and the realisation of the full route from Alnwick to Cornhill/Coldstream will happen.
This adoption means that the long standing obstacle of gaining permission to pass under the bridge can now be granted by NCC, and allow the AVR a greater chance to reach Alnmouth Station, and allow for people to once again reach the town of Alnwick by train.
The bridge required some repairs and upgrades, which is costed at around £255,000, but the benefits of reaching Alnmouth will be huge to the AVR, as well as Alnwick more generally; there could even be future potential to see railtours, and possibly even regular services to and from Alnwick (Lionheart) in the future?
Petition Progress
Both petition continue to make regular gains as time progresses, with more details below.
Start a Newcastle – Edinburgh Rail Service via Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park
The above petition as of 4.4.25, has gained an impressive 249 signatures since its launch in February 2025. Thank you to all who have signed so far, and if you’d like to add your name, please do so via the link below:
As ever, please write to your MP if you live in a constituency on the route to show your support too. It’s as simple as sending an email, so if you can, please do so, the more support that this rail route gets, the sooner it can be implemented!
Start a dedicated ‘Bus Meets Train’ shuttle bus between Alnwick, Alnmouth Station & Amble.
This petition has performed even more strongly, with 355 signatures since being launched in February 2025. Thank you again to all who have signed so far and of you would like to add your name, please do so via the link below!
A dedicated bus to connect to the recently opened Borderline Greenway, as well as an expanding Aln Valley Railway, as well as thriving attractions such as Alnwick Castle, The Alnwick Garden, Lilidorei and many more surely makes a lot of sense? If you agree, please sign the petition!
Behind the Scenes
There is more work ongoing behind the scenes, please keep an eye on the blog for more information soon, especially for an important upcoming meeting!
Thanks for reading, if you’d like to support me in maintaining these campaigns, please take a look at my Ko-fi page, any support would be most welcome! https://ko-fi.com/northumberlandcoastloop
The Alnwick end of the route is near to Weavers’ Court Extra Care Scheme, Swordy Drive, Alnwick NE66 1SZ; this building is home to a canny little cafe within if you’d like a tea, coffee, piece of cake, or hot food before or after your walk!
To reach the Borderline Greenway, walk along the footpath towards the yellow star called Willowburn Park, along the southern edge of The Steadings.
Continue on a broadly WSW direction as the map shows below (needing a little diversion south at present to go around the builder’s compound). The Borderline Greenway star is placed approximately where the new Greensfield Bridge is.
For users of what3words, this location is the site of the Greensfield Bridge
From there, the route is clear ahead and enjoy your trip along the line!
Yesterday (29.3.25) at 11am, the long awaited Borderline Greenway, which runs along a currently short section of the former Alnwick and Cornhill Railway finally officially opened to the public.
The railway on this stretch opened in 1887 for traffic as a through route from Alnwick to Cornhill. In 1948, following damage from major floods, the line was divided, with an Alnwick to Ilderton section, alongside Wooler to Cornhill (Coldstream). This section,on the Alnwick side, closed in March 1953 after just a 66 year lifespan, with the Wooler section surviving until 1965.
This newly opened route starts on the edge of Alnwick near to The Steadings (Taylor Drive) housing estate, still under construction hence the building materials on part of the trackbed which hopefully will be cleared once completed, but is easily walked around via a diversionary path.
The route is in two key parts, the Borderline Greenway, improved by the Borderline Greenway CIC makes up the majority, but for the last section towards the B6341, it is owned by the Freemen of Alnwick, which as of today has not been improved, but is passable on foot with care and if able to duck and clamber over occasional obstacles.
Sturdy boots would be recommended for undertaking this walk, and a sensible off road bicycle could certainly be used on the Borderline Greenway to Rugley Bridge and to the Freemen boundary.
For simplicity for those following this route, what3words has been used to label key locations, but is shared alongside mapping/aerial photographs to hopefully make clear where each site is.
Looking towards Alnwick Station, with The Steadings estate on the left of the imageTowards Cornhill, The Steadings now on the right hand side.
As can be seen above, the Borderline Greenway CIC has made a great job of creating a wide, smooth path along their stretch of route, which is quite dry throughout (one small patch of water running over the path was encountered).
This walk will take in the full length of the Borderline Greenway from Taylor Drive to its end well outside of Alnwick, and then the short stretch of Freemen owned land to reach the B6341 over Alnwick Moor which formed the return leg into town.
Bridge 1
Looking towards Alnwick from Bridge 1Towards Cornhill from Bridge 1
This bridge is the first major structure on the route, with a new deck placed in recent months (previous span had long since disappeared), and crosses another minor path below, explored some days before.
Passing below Bridge 1 some days before.Below Bridge 1 in the opposite direction.Path leading off the Borderline Greenway headed towards Alnwick Castle Golf Course (clubhouse just visible at top of the hill, with excellent food and drink), which is on the Rugley Road, which offers a shorter ‘loop’ to return to Alnwick if desired.
Gate 1
Being in a rural area where there is a possibility of livestock being around, there are a few gates across the path.
Looking at Gate 1 back towards Alnwick
What is interesting about the whole route is how much variation there is in such short distances, going from embankments, then to cuttings, from enclosed with trees to being quite open all within quick succession and makes the route very enjoyable to walk!
The Standing Sleeper
The standing sleeper (left), looking towards Cornhill
This point is one of many where other walking routes join, leave or cross the Greenway, but the single sleeper on end was a clear landmark.
Sleeper still in situ since closure in 1953?
Near this standing sleeper was the remains of another still in the ground. With the Alnwick to Ilderton section having closed to rail traffic in 1953 (well before Dr Richard Beeching), it potentially has been there for a century, perhaps even longer?
Gate 2
A short distance further on, another gate is encountered, and shows again the variety of scenery along the route, with wide open expanses of farmland and forest in view, and hardly a building to be seen in this area.
Rugley Burn
Here the line crossed a high, steep sided embankment over the Rugley Burn, with the minor Rugley Road jusy visible through the trees at times dropping into the valley and crossing via a ford. The scale of engineering for this line is quite remarkable for such a rural route.
Embankment over Rugley Burn looking towards AlnwickLooking down onto the Rugley BurnTowards Cornhill
Junction for Rugley Road
As the path approaches the minor Rugley Road, there is a very clear ‘junction’ of the paths, the left hand route, looking at the image below would take you up the cutting side to join the Rugley Road, but for us, we stay on the trackbed to pass beneath Rugley Road bridge.
Rugley Bridge
Approaching the Rugley Bridge through a deep, and quite damp cutting, we pass a large bench made from felled wood (this stretch was hard to pass due to swampy conditions and a number of trees fallen during Storm Arwen in November 2021, with windspeeds in the area reaching 98mph at nearby Brizlee Wood.
Location of Rugley BridgeA handy place for a rest!
Rugley Bridge itself is a marvellous structure with beautiful brick and stonework; it was fairly recently threatened by National Highways to be competely infilled with concrete as the bridge at Great Musgrave controversially was.
Happily through being alerted by the HRE Group to this, and actions by many people this disasterous proposal was dropped and the bridge remained open, allowing this route to be opened in the last few days.
Beautiful skewed brickwork under Rugley BridgeNeed for good drainage along this section!
Beyond Rugley Bridge and to Bridge 2
Out onto another embankment and curving northward steadily, the path again opens up with some wonderful views!
Back to embankment again after Rugley Bridge and the cutting. Another change in the view, what a diverse route this is! The second bridge to pass over on the Borderline Greenway.
Bridge 3
Another small bridge is crossed over here (no photo taken).
The end of the Borderline Greenway and beginning of the Freemen of Alnwick section (Freemen Gate 1)
As stated earlier, the route has two different custodians, the first section is the Borderline Greenway CIC, who have cleared the trackbed as far as the remains of this gate, with the Freemen of Alnwick the landowners beyond, with the trackbed in a more natural state.
Beyond this point, it is slightly more challenging to pass due to overgrown bushes and trees, with some having fallen across the trackbed in places. The drainage on this section is also blocked, making some sections quite ‘clarty’, a good pair of boots is recommended!
Remains of a gate mark the boundary between the Borderline Greenway and the Freemen of Alnwick section of the Alnwick & Cornhill LineSpectacular views of the moors from the trackbed.As can be seen, a much more natural path, with Gorse prevalent on this section. Walking atop another large embankmentPass through with careA wild cuttingA clarty sectionMore clarts, but showing it is a well used path. Fallen trees can be passed underOr in this case over (to the left hand side)
Freemen Gate 2
This section is almost at an end now, as we approach a minor road that connects to the B6341, passing through a small gate near a cottage.
Minor road adjacent to the cottage, with the route to the B6341 heading off to the right.
The B6341 Bridge and Route towards the Summit
Whilst not in the scope of todays walk, it appears possible to continue along the trackbed under the B6341, through another gate and on towards the Summit of the line beyond, the route from Alnwick having been a constant, steady uphill gradient.
This bridge, like the one at Rugley was under threat from infilling by National Highways, but hopefully the intention to see the full Alnwick and Cornhill route become an active travel corridor will see these bridges remain safe for years to come.
Bridge carrying the B6341 over the Alnwick and Cornhill RailwayAnother good example of skewed brickwork on these bridgesAnother gate and the route towards Summit.Please close the gate on this sectionSimple chain to hold the gate closed.
This above route will be explored at a future date, for now, it is back under the bridge, and to walk the B6341 back to Alnwick.
Back to home Alnwick along the B6341
The above walk was a circular one from home, so it was a pleasant walk back along the B6341 on the final leg of the morning.
Heading from the cottage up to the B6341Top of the bridge heading back to AlnwickOver the hill on the Moor, heading toward AlnwickNo refreshments first thing on a Sunday morning, but maybe next time!
Seeing how this route develops in the coming months and years will be interesting, and that a walk or cycle the full length to Cornhill would be a fantastic trip!
In Episode 48 of the excellent Green Signals podcast, presenter Richard Bowker takes a trip with GBRf CEO John Smith on the North Blyth to Fort William alumina train (the ‘Alcan tanks’), starting at c.17:00 minutes into the above video, it showcases the route from Springburn, near Glasgow to Spean Bridge, near Fort William in Scotland, which is excellent to see and well worth a watch.
It would be good, if Green Signals is to have another ‘jolly’ on camera, to perhaps see the Northumberland end of this interesting freight route that would have a good overlap with the progressive opening of the Northumberland Line, and could showcase a route that this campaign is aiming to see become a reality.
Can Nigel, Richard, and Steff make it happen? Hopefully so!
News has just broken from The Chronicle that the Northumberland Line is expected to reach 250,000 trips by Easter 2025; mere months after opening in December 2025, and with only half of the stations opened.
This is excellent news for the route, which has seen reopening campaigns since the mid 1970’s, with a meeting between the then MP for Morpeth, George Grant meeting with Eric Heffer MP, the then Minister for Industry.
Looking forward, it is a fairly safe assumption that the Northumberland Line may see 500,000 passengers by the first anniversary of the line reopening to passengers in December 2025.
It also lends a strong case to expansion of the route; with several possibilities available, but two within easy reach could use existing track and stations to provide a expanded service.
Newcastle – Morpeth – Bedlington
This route has long been argued for, and was at one time seen as a way to initiate the return of services to Bedlington as a first phase of reopening.
It is now understood to be in the works for starting once Bedlington station is completed, allowing units currently idle at Coopies Lane sidings to run to Bedlington and back, giving an east-west connection.
Hopefully with Bedlington station due to complete by December 2025, this service may be introduced alongside?
This campaign was established to combat the potential oversight of this route by other campaigns.
It is very much an ‘train ready route’, as it was used earlier this month for the SRPS ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ railtour to offer a through north-south link between Newcastle and Edinburgh via Bedlington.
If the Newcastle, Morpeth, and Bedlington route is ready to go, this one should also be a quick one to implement too.
This route would offer a few key advantages;
Additional trains alongside the Northumberland Line service would offer additional seating capacity, which is a known problem on the line given its popularity and would offer a potentially quick fix to this.
Would avoid passengers bound for North Northumberland/Scotland needing to travel south to Newcastle to make onward connections, and taking up capacity in that direction, and instead would board direct trains headed northwards, or on return, would vacate seats at station such as Blyth Bebside to be occupied by other passengers heading into Newcastle or beyond.
Builds on the proposed use of Morpeth – Bedlington services to support the proposed new station at Choppington, and would only require the short chord from Hepscott Junction to Morpeth North Junction to enable this route, with Hepscott Junction to Bedlington Junction being shared with other passenger services.
There has been a recent, and largely very welcome announcement in recent days about a £208m transport investment, part of a larger overall ‘£8.3bn transport vision’ which includes welcome schemes such as reopening of the Leamside Line, integrated ticketing, and wider public transport and active travel improvements.
That being said, dualling the A1 has once again reappeared, and given its £500m+ price tag would still constitute a sizeable chunk of the overall vision.
This latter scheme is undesirable for a number of reasons covered a lot of times before, but will be briefly reiterated here for clarity:
Dualling the A1 is poor value for money and bad for the environment, with little impact on safety.
Regardless of price, dualling the A1 has a benefit:cost ratio of just 0.8, meaning for every £1 in, only 80p of economic benefit would be returned. With a £500m+ price tag, this means an economic loss of £100m or more, which even in the best economic situation makes little sense, but with the huge pressure on the public purse, it makes zero sense now.
The case against dualling doesn’t end at just being poor value for money, it also has adverse impacts on a large amount of ancient woodland, especially in and around the Coquet valley, as well as being responsible for 2,487,000 tonnes of CO² over its lifetime (build plus traffic, which is still significantly reliant upon petrol & diesel vehicles), a do-nothing scenario would result in lower emissions, especially if coupled with modal shift away from driving (which this campaign advocates for), and a do-nothing would also protect habitats such as ancient woodland, alongside allowing the £500m+ of financing to be allocated elsewhere.
Dualling is not a major safety fix
While it may be true that a dual carriageway may have some safety gains, it is far from making a road totally ‘safe’, as sadly borne out by fatal and serious accidents on already dualled sections of the A1 itself, as well as on similar roads elsewhere in the UK.
Part of the analysis by Space4Gosforth highlights this problem well, with a decade of accident data shown below.
Spending £500m+ on one thirteen-mile stretch of road could surely be better allocated to reducing road casualties across Northumberland as a whole. Accident rates on dual and single carriageway sections were so similar as to not represent any real difference; so in safety terms, the argument for dualling is a false one.
In the time period between 2014 and 2024, 141 lives were lost on Northumberland roads, and 1,550 serious injuries; inducing more road traffic will only make these figures worse, and the number is far too high a toll already.
Invest in the ECML & N.C.L. instead?
People still need to travel, and if not by road, they need a viable alternative to do so.
For the A1 in particular, especially the stretch between Morpeth and Berwick, the East Coast Main Line (ECML) runs in near parallel throughout, and represents where an alternative investment might be better placed.
As stated on the Railfuture North East webpage, a study into a local (all stations rail service) between Newcastle and Berwick was carried out as recently as 2019, and found to be economically viable (i.e. benefit:cost ratio greater than 1:1), this would represent an excellent scheme for Kim McGuinness to implement rather than the deeply flawed dualling of the A1.
Consider the Northumberland Coast Loop too.
Alongside improving the ECML rail service as above, the Northumberland Coast Loop could also be considered. This route would offer a new rail route between Newcastle and Berwick or Edinburgh going via Bedlington, and Pegswood.
Route map of the Northumberland Coast LoopRail map of ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’, operated by the SRPS that took the N.C.L. route on 8th March 2025.
As can be seen from the above maps, a rail service via the Northumberland Line as far as Bedlington, then cutting across west to Pegswood is already possible on existing track, and was traversed by the SRPS operated ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ on the 8th March 2025.
The Northumberland Line, on the day of opening Newsham station, was revealed to have carried over 135,000 passengers, despite being open for less than 100 days and with only two stations open between 15th December 2024 and Monday 17th March 2025 (opening day for Newsham station).
Running through trains from Newcastle to Edinburgh via Bedlington (or vice versa), would give this area a new northbound service that would very much compliment the existing and already popular Northumberland Line service between Ashington and Newcastle.
With an overall cost of £298.5m, the Northumberland Line, 18 miles in length gives a very approximate cost per mile of £16.6m per mile.
For the Bedlington to Pegswood link, about 6 miles between stations, a similar cost per mile would mean such a link would be in the ballpark of £99.6m, but that would likely include station costs of the proposed Choppington station as the Northumberland Line figure is counted as an ‘all in’ scheme and not trackwork separate to stations, and it may even be possible to build a station on the Morpeth North Curve where this line joins the ECML to allow Morpeth to be served by trains on this route.
Taking this near £100m figure as a baseline, it can be seen that this is a mere fraction of A1 dualling costs, and if £500m+ is available for the corridor, would mean £400m+ would also be available for the ECML between Morpeth and Berwick?
Similarly, a popular proposal that would complement the wider bettering of public transport is for a dedicated ‘Bus Meets Train shuttle between Alnwick, Alnmouth Station, Warkworth, and Amble, with a petition for this again performing very strongly to date, despite only recently being launched. Again this bus service would cost a mere fraction of that proposed to be spent on dualling the A1 in Northumberland, but would give potentially greater economic and certain environmental benefits to the popular tourist towns of Alnwick, Warkworth, and Amble.
We would implore Kim McGuinness, as North East Mayor to reconsider dualling the A1, and instead invest the funds into the ECML and N.C.L. rail routes.
To borrow the phrase often used on the ‘We have ways of making you talk’ a WW2 podcast by comedian Al Murray and historian James Holland, let us ‘walk the ground’ of Northumberland Coast Loop for the short section between Pegswood and Bedlington that, so far, is not used regularly for passenger trains.
This route does require walking on uneven ground such as field edges and over some gentle gradients, so might not be suitable for all, please make a judgement on your own capabilities before undertaking this walk. Sturdy boots are a recommendation.
SAFETY MESSAGE
STAY OFF THE RAILWAY, THIS WALKING ROUTE IS USING BRIDGES/LEVEL CROSSINGS TO EXPLAIN THE ROUTE AND WHERE IT CAN BE VIEWED FROM SAFELY. NEVER WALK ON RAILWAYS.
Morpeth Railway Station to Morpeth North Junction
To reach Morpeth North Junction, starting from Morpeth Railway Station is a very simple short walk almost parallel to the East Coast Main Line. The end destination is ‘Temples Bridge’ that carries a small farm track over the East Coast Main Line (ECML), from which is it is possible to view Morpeth North Junction.
If arriving by car, I would recommend parking in the station car parks, but if you do choose to park elsewhere, please do so considerately.
What3Words address of Morpeth North Junction
To reach it from Morpeth Station, exit the station onto Coopie’s Lane and turn left, heading approximately north east, parallel to the east coast mainline. This will take you over the level crossing at Coopies Lane (the line here heading towards Bedlington from Morpeth station). The railway junction at Morpeth station is simply called ‘Morpeth Junction’, but we are headed north to ‘Morpeth North Junction’, around a 23min walk away. Please note it is not possible to drive to this bridge over the ECML. While you may be able to park closer, please observe that access needs to be maintained to businesses, farms, and residences and so please park considerately if doing so.
Coopies Lane Level Crossing
Continue along Coopie’s Lane past the footpbridge over the ECML and the premises of Gott Technical Services, where you’ll need to cross the road as the footpath on the left hand side ends where it heads onto the footbridge, but continue to walk in parallel to the ECML.
Gott Technical Services and Morpeth railway footbridge
Next, you’ll approach a road junction, where Coopie’s Lane continues straight ahead, with Coopie’s Way diverging to the right, stay straight ahead and remain on Coopie’s Lane and parallel to the ECML.
Keep walking along Coopie’s Lane, and you’ll reach Morpeth North level crossing over the ECML on your left, here you need to bear to your right (headed towards the red car in the image below), remaining on Coopie’s Lane.
Remain on the south side of the ECML and on Coopie’s LaneContinue to follow the road, and whilst quiet, this road had no footpath along it so please be cautious for traffic.
Next up is Storage24 on the left, Coopie’s Lane continues to the right of this site and begins its first climb as it heads over the Morpeth North Curve.
Storage24 and approaching Morpeth North Curve
Morpeth North Curve
Here we finally encounter the Morpeth North Curve, built as recently as 1980 (still very new in railway terms), which gives the direct northbound link from Bedlington onto the ECML. Today, this is mostly used by the North Blyth to Fort William ‘Alcan’ service a handful of times per week, but once was a busy route for coal traffic, as well as seeing a number of diversions around Morpeth due to rail accidents there.
Bridge over the Morpeth North CurveExample of a diversion in 1994 using the Morpeth North Curve following a rail accident. Photo by James Wilson
Electric Future?
The above image showing a 91029 being dragged by 47773 shows the value in electrification of this line would have, as with an increasingly electric railway, overhead wires would allow electric trains to be driven over the route, rather than dragged along it. Bi-modes could do the job in the short term, but wiring, at 25kV AC is the long term future for most railways and the N.C.L. route could almost certainly justify electrification.
Towards Temples Bridge
Continue walking along Coopie’s Lane until reaching a crossroads of sorts where a few houses are dotted around. If you do take a vehicle along the route, this is about as far as you can reach by car.
The route you now need take is on your left, entering the field and following the footpath close to the hedgerow, taking you on the path to the west of the houses (the road is private shortly beyond this crossroads, and where Google maps’ Streetview ends).
The two bridges over the railway, the first near Storage24 (bottom left), and Temples Bridge (top centre).
Simply follow the footpath almost due north , until you reach Temples Bridge, from there, you can clearly see Morpeth North Junction where the line to Bedlington from Pegswood and the north diverges from the ECML heading eastwards, ultimately joining the Northumberland Line at Bedlington Junction.
To return to Morpeth Station, simply retrace your steps back.
If you do take this quite nice short walk, please let us know via our social media and maybe share your photos/videos too!
The Northumberland Coast Loop 