Alnwick branch line.html



v • d • e Alnwick branch line
Locale England Successor line North Eastern Railway Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Legend Alnwick (closed 1968) Cornhill branch line East Coast Main 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, making this one of the very last British Rail routes with steam-hauled passenger services.

Although the line survived the Beeching cuts, it was closed in January 1968 on cost grounds. The Aln Valley Railway Society campaigns for the line to be reopened and passenger services restored. The old embankment after the line had crossed the A1 now forms the rear boundary of some of the gardens on the Royal Oak Gardens residential development.

The branch line revived

The Aln Valley Railway Society¹ plans to reopen the line from Alnmouth to Alnwick, although the new station would be on a different site in the town.

Coordinates

References

Notes

Sources

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. 

• Butt, R.V.J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present, 1st Edition, 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, Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137. 

• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas, 1st, Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687. 

• "Aln Valley Railway Society".
• "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

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