A recent article in the Independent newspaper, titled ‘The UK coastal areas daytrippers are flocking to via train‘ shows the potential importance of better rail services along the Northumberland Coast, and in particular the potential of the Northumberland Coast Loop route, which would form a direct rail link between Blyth and Berwick-Upon-Tweed.
Screenshot of the Independent article
In this article, it is anticipated that a contribution of £916m will be made to local economies around Britain where passengers are travelling by rail during the summer holiday period. Should Northumberland be better placed to capture even a fraction of this, it would be a transformative volume of investment into the local economy.
In the more detailed version of this article,the data from the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) suggests that almost half (47%) of trips are from within the same region, for example a family from Blyth might travel to Berwick for a day-out, or vice versa, and would spend money both in their ‘home’ area, as well as at the destination.
Overall, across the UK, this is expected to be around £678m in the ‘home’ area, with £916m in the destination area.
This is perhaps an opportunity that is too good to miss for Northumberland?
On Saturday 6th September 2025, the Borders Railway will celebrate a decade of operating from Tweedbank to Edinburgh, with the line opening to passengers on 6th September 2015, and official opening by the late Queen Elizabeth II a few days later on 9th September that year. Well done to all involved in that campaign to get it built, and the success of which proved the potential for other, similarly successful reopenings such as the Northumberland Line between Ashington and Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
Edinburgh to Tweedbank, for now…
This railway was once a through route between Edinburgh and Carlisle, formerly referred to as ‘The Waverley Route’, and which the Campaign for Borders Rail has long been championing the rebuilding of the route fully to reconnect Edinburgh and Carlisle once again by rail via Hawick.
If you can, please give the campaign any support you are able to!
The Northumberland Coast Loop; ready to go?
In comparison to the Borders Railway, which needs many miles of track relaid beyond the current terminus at Tweedbank towards Carlisle; the Northumberland Coast Loop could be able to offer a Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to Edinburgh via Blyth connection, by using the existing, direct link between Bedlington and Pegswood, as shown on the map below.
This would give areas in SE Northumberland a much better range of connections northwards, much as a fully extended Borders Railway would offer a better range connections to and from Carlisle and the south more broadly.
Do both is the answer here; using rail as a backbone of public transport for long distances, and get more direct connections between places established, making them quicker and as convenient as possible.
The Borders Railway is one that I would love to see once again reconnect Edinburgh and Carlisle, but the Northumberland Coast Loop could also form a new connection, using a line that has never fully closed, to offer new connections between Newcastle and Edinburgh, and could potentially do so very quickly.
The Chathill Rail Action Group (CRAG) is hosting a meeting (as outlined in the screenshot from their Facebook page below), at Chathill Station, Northumberland on Thursday 4th September.
In attendance will be; David Smith, MP for North Northumberland, Deputy Mayor Cllr Martin Gannon, and local County Councilor Guy Renner-Thompson, with free buses by Borders Buses also running to and from the station from Bamburgh.
CRAG is an independent organisation from the Northumberland Coast Loop, but one which hopefully we can continue to work alongside constructively to improve rail services in Northumberland as a whole, as well as Chathill more specifically.
Unfortunately due to work commitments, myself as the representative for the Northumberland Coast Loop won’t be able to attend this event.
Today, Sunday 31st August 2025 marks the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn, but with some significant progress being made on our campaign for the Northumberland Coast Loop, a new rail service between Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland via Blyth, Northumberland.
Hopefully all six stations will be fully completed by Spring 2026, and thoughts can then be more focussed on running this new rail service via Blyth?
I would like to wish a massive thank you to all who have signed and supported this petition so far, but please keep sharing with friends and family to keep it making progress!
Dualling of the A1 would, however, bring the considerable downsides of increased volumes of traffic both on the A1 itself (overwhelming other stretches of the road), and in places like his own ward of Bamburgh, road traffic is already a significant safety issue, with the campaign for a safer road crossing in Bamburgh gaining increasing traction, and with venues such as Bamburgh Castle attracting around 150,000 visitors a year, it brings a lot of vehicles into the historic village, making the roads busy and increasingly risky for visitors trying to enjoy the village.
Rail investment is an answer to both; get people to Belford, Bamburgh, and the surrounding area WITHOUT cars, for a fraction of the price?
In the above article, Cllr Thompson himself states that “Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit north Northumberland each year and a station at Belford would be in the epicentre of the tourist trade.“, so if the A1 is highly unlikely to be built in the coming years, why not get Belford Station rebuilt and opened to passengers instead?
If it is assumed that Belford railway station would cost in the ballpark of £20m (minimum of £14m in Novemeber 2024), then 25 railway stations could be delivered for the cost of dualling just 13 miles of road.
This figure is borne out by the recent opening and ongoing construction of the Northumberland Line, with 18 miles of freight line reopened to passengers, as well as six new stations expected to cost £298.5m so far, plus an extra £37.9m needed towards completion coming at a grand total of £336.4m, which is still £163.6m less than the expected cost of dualling the A1 between Morpeth and Ellingham.
For the comparatively small sum of £20m (compared to £500m+ price of dualling the A1), surely getting Belford Station rebuilt would represent a better investment for Northumberland.
As also hinted at in the article, the opening of railfreight facilities at Belford could also help to reduce HGV movements on the A1, cutting carbon emissions and reducing traffic on the A1 too.
Lets hope that Belford could be reopened far faster than 2036; two platforms adjacent to an existing passenger railway should not need a decade to be built, lets hope that 2030, or even earlier could be possible.
‘The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Waverley Weekender‘, a railtour organised by UK Railtours, and operated by the West Coast Railway Company had a section the return leg of the trip from Dunbarton, Scotland to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England due to travel over the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop route today (Monday 25th August 2025).
The original plan…
The tour was originally planned to run from Dunbarton to Edinburgh, then run south along the East Coast Main Line (ECML), but at Morpeth North Junction, the train would then leave the ECML, and run along the presently rarely passenger worked section to Bedlington Station on the Northumberland Line; it then continuing towards Newcastle Central via the under-construction and open stations at Blyth Bebside, Newsham, Seaton Delaval, and Northumberland Park.
With an aim to taking photos/videos of this service, I travelled from my ‘home’ station at Alnmouth to Morpeth (in very glorious weather!) aboard the 10:47 TPE service 9N09, as operated by 802213, the aim being to ‘catch’ the railtour on the rarely passenger worked Morpeth North Curve, though sadly this didn’t work out on the day.
Glorious weather at AlnmouthTPE 802213 arrives at AlnmouthAfter arrival at Morpeth, making my way to Morpeth North Curve and seeing 802213 departing towards Newcastle
The departure from Alnmouth and arrival at Morpeth was two minutes late (11:02 rather than 11:00 exactly) but this allowed more than ample time to walk to my destination as the railtour was booked at Morpeth North Junction for 12:02, reaching Hepscott Junction at 12:04, so still almost an hour ahead of the scheduled arrival time.
A short walk along Coopies Lane, Coopies Lane, and then onto Coopies Haugh brought me to the end of a footpath (w3w ///processes.unwound.barn), which leads to a foot crossing (w3w ///plea.refuses.shepherdess) over the Morpeth North Curve where I intended to view 1Z84 from at a safe distance on the approaches to this crossing.
Concrete style towards the foot crossingThe crossing looking towards the ECMLThe crossing itself from the western side of the line looking towards Coopies Haugh and Coopies WayThe line towards Bedlington, Blyth and Newcastle via the Coastal route
… but unexpected problems lead to a late running railtour!
Once at the above foot crossing, the data from the excellent Realtime Trains website showed that things were going awry with the railtour, with information beginning to trickle through that the railtour was beginning to get delayed, and then more substantially so quickly.
It started well……but things started going wrong up in Scotland.
With my train back booked for 12:54 aboard the LNER service back to Alnmouth, and a family event to attend, I made my way back to the station via Clarks Bog, a nature reserve adjacent to the Morpeth North Curve, and over the bridge that takes Coopies Lane over the line (w3w ///encloses.stowing.loosens)
Looking towards the ECML from Coopies LaneTowards Bedlington from Coopies LaneStorage24 is nestled in the triangular space between the Morpeth North Curve, the ECML and Coopies Lane at Morpeth. Part of the lineside features on the ECML heading back towards Morpeth StationFootbridge over the ECML near Morpeth, looking northbound. Looking southbound at the same footbridge.Construction work in the Network Rail compound at Morpeth. Morpeth SignalboxMorpeth Station after some quick refreshments at the cafe, and a shoutout to the lovely staff within! Plenty of passengers waiting to board the 2A28 towards Carlisle worked by 156475A now well loaded 156 waiting to head off to Carlisle as 2A28My return train, the two minute late 12:54 LNER service towards AlnmouthAnother well filled service (I chose to stand due to well filled seats), with many disemarking at Alnmouth, arriving back at 13:09.
With the now heavily delayed 1Z84 now expected to pass Alnmouth around 13:30, I decided to simply catch it there instead.
WCRC Class 47 roars through Alnmouth with the then 109min late railtour.
The cause of the delay is at present unclear, with some rumour than the locomotives on the railtour suffered issues, but also other trains in the area having traction problems, but by the time the railtour reached Morpeth North Junction, it was by the 118 minutes behind schedule. The decision was presumably taken by signallers to avoid going via Bedlington, and to make up time by going via Morpeth and Cramlington instead.
Late running of 1Z84 caught up by avoiding Bedlington and running via Morpeth and Cramlington.
The change of route allowed the recovery of 26 minutes, with the delay falling from 118 minutes late to 92 minutes late, with expected timetable for the route via Bedlington from Morpeth North Junction (12:02) to Benton North Junction (12:45½) expected to take 43½ minutes overall, compared to the 17½ of the route via Morpeth and Cramlington for this train (running at max of 95mph with a c.450ton trailing load).
Conclusions
Whilst the problems encountered meant that unfortunately the railtour didn’t actually run via Bedlington today, the planned timetable does offer some useful information for the proposed regular passenger service via this route (Newcastle – Bedlington – Edinburgh and vice versa).
30 minutes or less to go via Bedlington vs via Cramlington
The 26 minute difference in the route timings between Morpeth North Junction and Benton North Junction for example, demonstrates that the route is not an unduly long detour, with modern rolling stock such as the TPE 80x fleet allowing higher train performance, and potential to upgrade line speeds on the Morpeth North Junction to Bedlington Junction section, the running times over this loop, inclusive of stops might be capable of remaining below 30 minutes of additional time compared to the current route via Cramlington, and Morpeth stations.
Driver Knowledge and Route Resilience
In addition, the last minute change of route to run via Cramlington rather than Bedlington, in this case simply to make up lost time, shows the benefits of the driver knowing both routes; had the driver lacked the route knowledge of running via Cramlington, the train would have been restricted to the slower route, or might have been further delayed to await another driver or a route conductor to take the train over the alternative route.
In the event of a much larger problem, as demonstrated by the structural issues with Plessey Viaduct in October 2023, the knowledge of an alternative route could be invaluable, especially if a ‘normal’ route was to be closed for a substantial time (Plessey Viaduct could have been a total closure had damage been more extensive for example).
The use of electric only trains would be problematic due to the absence of wiring ‘on the loop’ at present, but a lot of rolling stock is still diesel or bi-modal, so the lack of wiring would not itself present an issue.
The main challenges would be rolling stock clearance and driver knowledge, but both of these problems could be resolved by routine running; stock clearance would be reasonable to ensure for a regularly run route, and driver knowledge would be gained and retained by using the route routinely for passenger services.
Economic gains
The major justification for a rail service via the Northumberland Coast Loop is the potential economic gain for towns such as Bedlington and Blyth, as well as wider areas such as North Tyneside from the provision of direct rail services to as many places as possible.
It is well known that communities which are better connected by rail tend to thrive economically, Morpeth for example does very well from the wide range of services that call there, with great links to Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Carlisle, as well as many other towns and cities, but shouldn’t far larger towns on the Northumberland Line also see a similar range of destinations become available, even if operated at a lower frequency?
A quick reminder of the railtour over the Northumberland Line is around noon tomorrow (12:00 Monday 25th August 2025), operated by West Coast Railways, and will take the proposed southbound Northumberland Coast Loop route (Edinburgh to Newcastle Upon Tyne via Bedlington).
Will be great to see photos/videos of this service if you can get out and catch it!
A railtour running via the proposed southbound Northumberland Coast Loop route (from Berwick Upon Tweed , through Pegswood and Bedlington, then to Newcastle Central) has just had timings released on Realtime Trains, please click the link below for further information:
This is a railtour operating southbound, so in the opposite direction to ‘The Seven Counties Rambler‘ back in March, with the added bonus of running in broad daylight rather than darkness too.
Route map taken from the Souvenir Brochure of the SRPS ‘The Seven Counties Rambler‘, showing the route of both railtours via the Northumberland Line
The expected departure from Dunbarton is at 09:01, to begin the journey south.
The train is due to pass Alnmouth at around 11:47, the railtour will then leave the East Coast Main Line at Morpeth North Junction at approx 12:02, pass Bedlington at around 12:14,pass Newsham at around 12:20, then arrive in Newcastle Central at approximately 13:01. Please note these timings can be subject to change, the information shared here is only for those interested in potentially taking photos/video of the train as it passes.
If you do happen to capture it, I’d be delighted to share photo’s/links to videos (i.e. YouTube) on this blog, so please get in contact via our social media pages to arrange if you’d like to share your content.
For this campaign, a particularly interesting site for photographs/video/drone footage to be captured, if possible, would be the train traversing the Morpeth North Curve, which is the line passing from Temples Bridge (w3w: ///insects.hamsters.issuer), under the Coopies Lane bridge at (w3w: ///encloses.stowing.loosens), then under the A196 at (w3w: ///driftwood.clerk.pupils), to Hepscott Junction (w3w: ///worms.blending.cans). Again please share a link to your content if you manage to capture this! Similarly, along the route between Morpeth North Curve at Bedlington would also be much appreciated!
Thank you to all who have signed the petition so far, and a special thanks to the 21 of you who’ve helped to promote the petition, with £94 donated so far on Change.org to help the petition to reach more people!
However if you can’t chip in, please just share with friends and family, via WhatsApp, your own Facebook wall or any other means such as email if you can, it’s free, but goes a long way to highlighting the campaign to more people and hopefully seeing the service introduced!
This shows the continued and increasing support for the route to become established, which hopefully will come soon after the completion of stations in late 2025/early 2026.
The next major milestone for the petition will be 1000 signatures, which will hopefully be reached quite soon, but the petition will remain open until a service is started over the route.
Railtour expected over the Northumberland Coast Loop: 25th August 2025
Starting from Dunbarton, then running through Edinburgh Waverley, and down the East Coast Main Line (ECML), before curving off the mainline at Morpeth North Junction, heading towards Bedlington and then heading south along the Northumberland Line towards Newcastle.
The last railtour over the proposed N.C.L. route (on which I was a passenger), was ‘The Seven Counties Rambler‘ operated by SRPS Railtours on 8th March 2025, with 171 days between these two railtours.
As of yet, exact timings and traction for the UK Railtours train on Monday 25th August is not known, but should be uploaded soon to websites such as Realtime Trains once released, and will also be shared here.
If you can, please try and grab a photograph/video of this railtour (please do so from a position of safety, NEVER trespass on the railway for any reason), and if you’d like them featured/shared on this blog/our social media, please send them via the Facebook page or via X (Twitter).
The Northumberland Coast Loop 