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Description

Also known as Reedsmouth Junction, this was a three platform junction station to the east of Redesmouth House. The small village of Redesmouth, largely railway cottages, developed by the station. The station was just east of the confluence of the River Rede and the River North Tyne.

There were two platforms on the loop of the Hexham-Riccarton Junction Border Counties Railway and a single platform to the immediate east on the Wansbeck Railway to Morpeth.

A tall signal box looked out south over the junction. The box was originally a single storey and increased to two storeys in 1918. There were station buildings on each platform and a LNER footbridge linked the Border Counties platforms.

Beside the Wansbeck platform was a loop and a series of three looped sidings, reflecting the number of quarries and sidings there were on this route as far as Woodburn.

To the north of the Border Counties Railway platforms was Reedsmouth Shed, on the east side of the line and approached from the south. The shed siding connected with the goods yard sidings. The turntable was located on the east side of the station, just north of the Wansbeck platform and approached from the north.

The original station, before the Wansbeck line opened in 1865, had a single platform on the Border Counties Railway. The platform was on the west side with a loop to the east. This station was north of the later junction station, alongside the site of the later engine shed. The loop became a siding approached from the south when the station was replaced. Interestingly the spelling 'Reed' rather than 'Rede' is used for the big house and surrounding features in a contemporary Ordnance Survey map.

Due to its remote location the shed was used to store preserved locomotives in the war.

The Wansbeck Railway in 1952 and the Border Counties Railway closed to passengers in 1956. The Border Counties Railway ceased to be a through route in 1958, being closed south of Reedsmouth and north of Bellingham.

Bellingham was reached by leaving Morpeth and reversing at Reedsmouth.

The line remained open to goods and minerals until 1963 when it was cut back to Woodburn. The signal box lasted until closure.

The railway cottages remained in use after closure but station became derelict. The signal box was restored in the 1980s and is now a house. The platforms remain intact and the shed is now in use by a farmer.

To the north west was the Reedsmouth Viaduct, in common with the rest of the Border Counties Railway is was built in anticipation of a second line which was never laid.

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