Even though this is hopefully a short-lived issue until suitable incinerator capacity is built out in Scotland; hopefully the transport solution to get the waste into England is by rail and not by road, requiring fewer drivers and less HGV traffic on routes such as the A1.
Today, Sunday 15th June 2025, marks 100 days since an early morning start at Linlithgow station on the 8th March, and an excellent railtour by SRPS Railtours around southern Scotland and northern England.
The final leg of this railtour, was of particular interest to this campaign as it follows the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop route; running from Newcastle Upon Tyne, up the Northumberland Line to Bedlington, then taking the Hepscott Line, round the Morpeth North Curve, and rejoins the East Coast Main Line (ECML), to head back to Edinburgh.
It was great to travel the line after seeing the ‘Bound for Craigy’ railtour, which ran over the same route on 18th March 2017 (almost eight years earlier), which was a large part of the inspiration for this route becoming a regular passenger route.
For me, the railtour ended at Linlithgow station, where I then travelled home back to Northumberland that night.
This railtour was a great experience, with great company from fellow passengers, and a very happy and helpful on-board crew, as well as getting a great day to enjoy fantastic scenery while being hauled by heritage locomotives in heritage carriages — brilliant just about sums it up!
Since that day back on 8th March, the Northumberland Coast Loop campaign has taken a number of steps forward, and hopefully moving ever closer to the day when a routine service starts over the route?
This route, like the Northumberland Line is likely to be a huge success; lets get it opened up sooner rather than later!
It could, alongside existing Northumberland Line trains add valuable extra capacity to the Northumberland Line (more seats from Newcastle Central onto the Northumberland Line), as well as create new, direct links from these new stations into North Northumberland and Scotland.
Please sign the petition here: https://chng.it/zThXj8HBpY, and if you can, especially so if you live in the area, please write to your MP, local County Councillors etc, to express your support for the route to be opened up.
In the last few days, the Coldstream Guards, in their 375th anniversary year, travelled from London King’s Cross to Berwick Upon Tweed to parade around the town, as they have the freedom of the town to do so.
What is interesting to note is that travel by rail was preferable for the event due to its speed; making a London – Berwick – London round trip possible in a single day, and the opportunity for the 120 Guardsmen to sit back and relax in comfort, and catching up on much deserved rest during their rail trip to Berwick and back to London.
This illustrates the key role that rail can play in linking very distant parts of the UK together in a speedy and efficient way, with Berwick Upon Tweed about as far as possible to get from London whilst still remaining in England (but only just!).
The N.C.L. alongside existing ECML services
Whilst the Guardsmen obviously took the fastest direct train from London to Berwick, going via Cramlington and Morpeth; the Northumberland Coast Loop would allow Berwick to be reached directly by rail from other places within Northumberland such as Blyth, very much as an addition to other rail services, and not as a replacement for any of them — expansion of the mainline to accomodate more and varied services is the key to success.
While Blyth doesn’t presently have a direct passenger service towards Berwick, one is possible if the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop was to be implemented. Trains departing Newcastle could run up the Northumberland Line as far as Bedlington (making stops at Northumberland Park, and Blyth Bebside for semi-fast trains, all stops for local services), then take the existing line west through Hepscott to rejoin the mainline at Morpeth North Junction, then, pointing towards Pegswood, they would run north towards Berwick and Edinburgh.
This route is intended to complement existing ECML services between Newcastle and Edinburgh via Morpeth and Cramlington, with the ‘loop’ via Bedlington, Blyth Bebside, Newsham, Seaton Delaval, and Northumberland Park intended to better connect these large communities well to the east of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) into North Northumberland and Scotland directly, rather than having to connect via Newcastle or Morpeth.
Alnwick – Alnmouth Station – Amble ‘Bus Meets Train’ Service
This service would aim to better connect the towns of Alnwick and Amble, both some miles away from the ECML to west and east respectively by providing a better bus service linking both towns to Alnmouth Station. Work is ongoing on this in the background, so watch this space!
Reopening Choppington Station
This petition to reopen Choppington station on the line between Bedlington, Morpeth, and Pegswood has only just launched in the last few days; but has already attracted 17 signatures of support.
Choppington station would have a strong case for reopening now; having closed to regular services in 1950, and fully closing in 1964. Since that time, however, housing stock in surrounding towns nearby has grown significantly, with ongoing developments in Bedlington and Scotland Gate only bringing greater population density to the area and better justification for the station to reopen.
Reopening Choppington Station would open up the opportunity for someone living in Scotland Gate to travel to Scotland, hence the title of this blog post.
More widely, the three petitions combined are part of an overall improvement in public transport in Northumberland; the N.C.L. rail route provides a stronger spine of rail services along the Northumberland Coast, giving fast, direct, and comfortable connections from Berwick to Blyth and into North Tyneside. Buses linking Alnwick and Amble into Alnmouth can be used by all rail users, not just those on the N.C.L., and makes car-free tourism far more viable as an option, and finally a new station at Choppington would better serve communities such as the ‘top end’ of Bedlington, Choppington, Scotland Gate, Guide Post, and Stakeford.
Only an additional 45 signatures are needed for this petition to reach 500 signatures, can we reach this in the next few days?
If you’d like to see a better bus service linking these towns to the railway station, please pop your signature on the petition here: https://chng.it/B4RwwtHnJc
This campaign supports this aim of an enhanced service to Chathill, alongside a new £15m station at Belford, and wider upgrade to the ECML route to see services to stations both large and small improved.
We are also calling for investment to ensure that sufficient capacity is also available for the new Northumberland Coast Loop, which would see a new Newcastle – Bedlington – Edinburgh passenger route developed, giving better to, from, and within Northumberland connections, linking the northern end of the highly successful Northumberland Line back onto the ECML to give towns such as Bedlington, Blyth and Seaton Delaval, as well as the larger conurbation of North Tyneside better rail connectivity.
Schemes such as better rail services and even completely new stations such as proposed one at Belford are far more cost effective than schemes like dualling the A1, a £15m new station is very cost-effective compared to the expected £500m+ cost of dualling just 13 miles of the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham, and the Northumberland Coast Loop, while not fully costed, uses an existing rail route, in daily use on the ECML and Northumberland Line, with the short link from Bedlington to Pegswood the only section not in regular passenger use, used by freight and the empty passenger trains heading to Ashington each morning.
The link between the Northumberland Line and ECML via Hepscott (indicated by arrow), is regularly used for freight and empty passenger trains going to Ashington early in the mornings.
This is a great milestone, but the story is far from over; please keep sharing and supporting this campaign to see this rail route become a reality, the track is already there, lets just see the trains run upon it!
Thank you to all who’ve signed it already, and if you haven’t, please do so via the link above!
The petition for a Newcastle to Edinburgh rail service via Bedlington & Pegswood is close to reaching 500 signatures, with 474 having signed it to date.
This petition will continue until such a time as a service is trialled over the proposed route, as outlined below in the two maps.
This map, courtesy of Paul (@lf_p on Twitter/X) is a diagrammatic map showing the Hepscott Line, acting as link between Bedlington, on the Northumberland Line and the triangular junction with the ECML between Morpeth and Pegswood Stations, the route via Pegswood being the ‘Route of the Rambler’ as shown below. This map, reproduced from an SRPS Souvenir Brochure from ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ shows the Northumberland Coast Loop in use for a passenger train (railtour) on the evening of the 8th March 2025, taking Northumberland Line to Bedlington, before cutting west back onto the ECML near Pegswood, on the return leg to Edinburgh.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 