Alston Line
| Haltwhistle – Alston | |
|---|---|
 Alston in September 1973
| |
| Route length: | 21.7 km |
| Gauge : | 1435 mm ( standard gauge ) |
The Alston Line was a 13 miles long branch line with standard gauge in the counties of Northumberland and Cumberland in England . Starting from the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway in Haltwhistle , the route ran to Alston .
history
A parliamentary resolution of 1846 initially allowed the route as far as Nenthead to ensure a connection to the lead mines in the area around Alston. Another parliamentary resolution was passed in 1849 for the decision to extend the route to Alston.
The route was opened in individual sections. A first section to Shafthill Station (later Coanwood) was opened in 1851 and the section between Lambley and Alston in 1852. The opening could take place here when the Langley Viaduct over the South Tyne was completed. There was also a connection to the Brampton Railway .
Cessation of operations
In the 1950s, the freight service in Coanwood was set and the staff withdrawn from all stops. After the locomotive shed was closed in 1959, freight traffic on the line was stopped. Class 101 internal combustion engines operated on the route , which were stationed in Blaydon-on-Tyne . The line was operated as a purely secondary line with no signals with the exception of the signal in Haltwhistle. Waggon- und Maschinenbau GmbH Donauwörth rail buses were tested without success in 1965. The route was scheduled for closure in the Beeching Plan , but the lack of a paved road prevented implementation. A connection to the local roads with a temporary level crossing was built in the Lambley area and Ribble Motor Services operated a replacement bus service. The line was officially closed on May 3, 1976. The last train left two days earlier.
Although the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society tried to preserve the track, it was dismantled soon after it was closed.
The branch line today
In 1983 a narrow-gauge railway was opened between Alston and Gilderdale. The route has been extended further north over the years. The South Tynedale Railway is a 2-foot (0.61 m) narrow-gauge railway that operates regular train journeys on the route from Alston to Lintley with the locomotives Helen Kathryn and Thomas Edmondson built by Henschel in Germany .
The route was interrupted near Haltwhistle by the A69 and the demolition of a bridge over a side road.
literature
- RVJ Butt: The Directory of Railway Stations . Patrick Stephens Ltd, 1995, ISBN 1-85260-508-1 .
- SC Jenkins: The Alston Branch . Oakwood Press, 2001, ISBN 0-85361-574-8 .
Web links
- Northumbrian Railways. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 8, 2007 ; Retrieved September 25, 2015 .
- Railscot
- The South Tynedale Railway
Individual evidence
- ^ South Tyne - Haltwhistle to Alston . Bridges on the Tyne. Retrieved June 27, 2013.