Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)

Introduction

This line is closed. The Alnwick station site remains in good condition, particularly known for its bookshop. Today the nearest public station is at Alnmouth.

The Aln Valley Railway Society plan to re-open the majority of the line and a new Alnwick terminus Alnwick (Lionheart) has been built on the east side of the A1 which severed the trackbed making it difficult to re-use the original terminus.






Dates

05/08/1850Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
Line opened to freight.
19/08/1850Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
Line opened to passengers.
  /  /1963Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
Not included in Beeching Report.
  /01/1968Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
Closed to passengers.
  /10/1968Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
Closed completely.
  /  /2012Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
Alnwick (Lionheart) opened as the terminus of the proposed Aln Valley Railway.
  /  /2019Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway)
First steam engine crosses over the Cawledge Viaduct.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Alnmouth to Alnwick

This is a two platform station with the main station building, a modest modern structure, on the southbound platforms. There are car parks on either side of the line. There is a signal box at the north end of the southbound platform and sidings and a coal yard at the south end, east side of the line. The station is on the electrified East Coast Main Line.
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More details

See also
Newcastle and Berwick Railway
Early morning mist drifting inland off the North Sea shrouds the landscape on the southern approach to Alnmouth on 24 May 2004. View west from a ...
John Furnevel 24/05/2004
Unidentified Inter City Express heading south towards Alnmouth. ...
John Steven 07/03/2010
An up Voyager speeds through Alnmouth on 12th July 2015. Notice the signal box, and the viaduct over the River Aln just visible on the far right - '18 ...
Ken Strachan 12/07/2015
A Virgin Voyager on a Cross Country service about to call at Alnmouth in May 2004. ...
John Furnevel 26/05/2004
4 of 20 images. more


Ex-NCB Austerity 0-6-0 saddle tank No 60 is getting ready to leave Greenrigg Halt on 14 May 2023 and return to Alnwick Lionheart. Note the patriotic ...
Colin Kirkwood 14/05/2023
1 of 1 images.


This is a double track seven arch stone viaduct on the line between Alnmouth and Alnwick which had been initially single track, then doubled (new track to north), and closed in 1968. The Aln Valley Railway now (2019) crosses the viaduct having extended east from its Alnwick (Lionheart) terminus. The viaduct carries a single track.
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This is the terminus of the Aln Valley Railway. The station opened in 2012. The station is the intended terminus of a re-opened Alnwick Branch (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway) which closed in 1968. The original site, Alnwick, will be difficult to access from Alnmouth due to the construction of the A1 on the level over the former line's trackbed.
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More details

See also
Alnwick Lionheart (Aln Valley Railway)
4 September 2022 and Hudswell Clarke loco No 9 'Richboro' is on display outside the loco shed at Alnwick Lionheart. Behind it is another Hudswell ...
Colin Kirkwood 04/09/2022
A seriously antique station building on the Aln Valley Railway. No doubt trains were once as fascinating and strange as, say, Artificial Intelligence ...
Ken Strachan 12/07/2015
Hunslet 0-6-0ST No 60 (ex NCB) is about to depart from Alnwick Lionheart station on 4 September 2022. Note the 'Pacer' unit in the background.
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Colin Kirkwood 04/09/2022
Various items of interest in the yard at Alnwick Lionheart on 14 May 2023, including Pacer unit 144004, one of two here, and a Drewry diesel shunter ...
Colin Kirkwood 14/05/2023
4 of 15 images. more




This substantial station closed in 1968. The station building remains standing and there are portions of platforms. It was the terminus of the line from Alnmouth and, from 1887, the line from Coldstream (the junction was south of the station.)
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More details

See also
Cornhill Branch (North Eastern Railway)
Northern elevation of the large Alnwick trainshed. The view is towards the front entrance in 2002. ...
Ewan Crawford 27/12/2002
There is a very pleasant footpath from the former Alnwick station towards Lionheart station - you just need to pole vault over the town bypass to ...
Ken Strachan 12/07/2015
Looking north towards the main entrance to Alnwick station (now occupied by Barter Books) on 9 August 2007. In the background stands the towns ...
John Furnevel 09/08/2007
Interior of the former Alnwick station, opened in 1848 and now Barters Bookshop, seen here 50 years after closure on 16th June 2018. The line to ...
David Bosher 16/06/2018
4 of 23 images. more