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 (4.5 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.

The Revival

The Aln Valley Railway Trust is to soon reopen the line in stages from a new terminus station in Alnwick back to Alnmouth. The new "Lionheart" station at Alnwick is on a different site from the original Alnwick station due to the A1 dual carrageway being built across the original trackbed after closure.. Rolling stock is stored at Longhoughton goods yard and at a private site in Wooler. Planning permission for the first phase of the project (From Lloyds Field to just short of Greenrigg Bridge) was granted by Northumberland Council on 1 July 2010, the lease for the site signed on 22 Feb 2012 with initial ground works under way.

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

External links

• Aln valley railway website.

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". http://www.alnvalleyrailway.co.uk/. 
• "Northumbrian Railways". http://www.northumbrian-railways.co.uk/index.php?page=alnwick. 
• "Sub Brit Page". http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/a/alnwick/index.shtml. 
• "RAILSCOT on Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)". http://www.railbrit.co.uk/Alnwick_Branch/frame.htm. 
• "RAILSCOT on Cornhill Branch (North Eastern Railway)". http://www.railbrit.co.uk/Cornhill_Branch/frame.htm. 
• "RAILSCOT on Newcastle and Berwick Railway". http://www.railbrit.co.uk/Newcastle_and_Berwick_Railway/frame.htm. 
• BVE simulation of Alnmouth to Alnwick
• The line on navigable O.S. map