Alnwick branch line

Alnwick branch line
Locale England Successor line North Eastern Railway Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Legend
East Coast Main Line Alnwick (closed 1968) Cornhill branch line 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 2.75 miles (4.43 km).

It opened in 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.

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 Aln Valley Railway Trust is to soon reopen the old branch line in stages from a new terminus station in Alnwick back to Alnmouth. The first stage is well under way with the construction of the new Alnwick Lionheart Station, made necessary by the unavailability of the original site and new buildings on some of the trackbed into the town centre.

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 and souvenir shop. (It is advised that visitors contact the railway directly for current site opening times).

The new "Alnwick Lionheart" station 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 closure. The Aln Valley Railway also has a presence at Longhoughton goods yard, used for the temporary storage of stock, as well as at private site in Wooler.

So far, 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 on 14 July (just 5 months later). The first train (an engineer's train) ran on 3 Nov 2012.

Point	Coordinates
Western end - Alnwick railway station	55°24′36″N 1°41′56″W
Approx. midpoint	55°24′02″N 1°40′17″W
Lionheart railway station complex	55°24′08″N 1°41′11″W
Eastern end - Alnmouth railway station	55°23′47″N 1°38′28″W

References

Sources

• 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. 
• "Aln Valley Railway Trust". 
• "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.