Alnwick Branch Line

Alnwick Branch Line
Locale Northumberland North East England Dates of operation 1850 – 1968 Successor North Eastern Railway Track gauge 4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge Length 2 ^3⁄4 miles (4.4 km)
Legend
Cornhill Branch Alnwick railway overbridge demolished bypass cutting through former line Alnwick Lionheart Aln Valley Railway Cawledge Viaduct over Cawledge Burn Alnmouth East Coast Main Line

The Alnwick Branch Line was a railway line in Northumberland, northern England. It ran from Alnmouth railway station, on the East Coast Main Line, to the town of Alnwick, a distance of 2 ³⁄₄ miles (4.4 km).

It opened on 5 August 1850 to both freight and passenger traffic; passenger operations included direct Newcastle to Alnwick services, as well as regular shuttle runs between Alnmouth and Alnwick. As late as 1966, some of the Alnmouth to Alnwick shuttles were operated by steam locomotives.

Operation

All Newcastle-Alnwick services and some local trains were taken over by diesel multiple units from 21 April 1958, with schedules cut by up to 15 minutes.^[1]

Closure

It was closed in January 1968 on cost grounds. The old embankment after the line had crossed the A1 road now forms the rear boundary of some of the gardens on the Royal Oak Gardens residential development.

Preservation and revival

The first preserved steam service

The Aln Valley Railway Trust is reopening the old branch line in stages from a new terminus station in Alnwick back to Alnmouth. The first stage is complete with the construction of the new Alnwick Lionheart Station. This was made necessary by the unavailability of the original site and new buildings on some of the trackbed into the town centre. The second stage of connecting the new station site to the original trackbed began in October 2015.^[2]

Planning permission was granted by Northumberland County Council on 1 July 2010, the lease for the site signed on 22 Feb 2012 and the site opened to visitors five months later on 14 July. The first train (an engineer's train) ran on 3 Nov 2012.^[3]

The new site opened to visitors in the summer of 2012 to demonstrate the ongoing work alongside exhibits of rolling stock as well as an indoor exhibition area, cafe, souvenir shop and model railway. The first operating season followed in 2013 culminating in the first trial steam service on 10 September. The railway was formally opened by the Duke of Northumberland on 30 October 2013.

The new "Alnwick Lionheart" station site at Alnwick is on a different site from the original Alnwick station due to the A1 dual carriageway being built across the original trackbed after the 1968 closure. Between April 2000 and November 2014 the Aln Valley Railway also had a presence at Longhoughton goods yard, used for the temporary storage of stock and preparation work prior to obtaining the Lionheart Site.

Rolling stock

Steam locomotives

• Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T no. 9 "Richboro", built in 1917. Operational
• Hawthorn Leslie 0-4-0ST no. 3799 "Penicuik", built in 1935. Stored undercover at Lionheart Undergoing cosmetic restoration.

Diesel locomotives

• Drewry 0-6-0DM no. 8199 "Drax", built in 1963. Operational.
• Andrew Barclay 0-6-0 no. 615, built in 1977. Operational and on loan (private owner). This was the final surface locomotive to work for the National Coal Board.
• British Rail Class 11 0-6-0 no. 12088 "Shirley", built in 1951. Operational. Requires minor body work before being repainted into BR black.
• Ruston and Hornsby 0-4-0 no. S518256, built in 1948. Pending major restoration.
• Ruston and Hornsby 0-4-0 no. L2, built in 1952. Requiring major works. Currently on display at the entrance of the Lionheart site.

Coordinates

Point	Coordinates
Western end - Alnwick railway station	55°24′36″N 1°41′56″W / 55.41000°N 1.69889°W
Approx. midpoint	55°24′02″N 1°40′17″W / 55.40056°N 1.67139°WCoordinates: 55°24′02″N 1°40′17″W / 55.40056°N 1.67139°W
Lionheart railway station complex	55°24′08″N 1°41′11″W / 55.40222°N 1.68639°W
Eastern end - Alnmouth railway station	55°23′47″N 1°38′28″W / 55.39639°N 1.64111°W

References

Notes

1. Railway Magazine June 1958 p. 432
2. Aln Valley Railway Trust
3. Branch Line News (1174): 420/12. 8 Dec 2012.

Sources

• "Aln Valley Railway Trust".
• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063.
• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687.
• "Northumbrian Railways".
• "Sub Brit Page".
• "RAILSCOT on Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)".
• "RAILSCOT on Cornhill Branch (North Eastern Railway)".
• "RAILSCOT on Newcastle and Berwick Railway".
• BVE simulation of Alnmouth to Alnwick
• The line on navigable O.S. map

External links

• Aln valley railway website.