Alnwick railway station

This article is about the disused station. For the current Alnwick Lionheart station, see Alnwick Lionheart railway station.

Alnwick
General information
Location	Alnwick, Northumberland England
Coordinates	55.410°N 1.699°W / 55.410; -1.699
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	North Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway, North Eastern Region of British Railways
Key dates
19 August 1850	Station opens
5 September 1887	Station relocated
29 January 1968	Passenger service withdrawn
7 October 1968	Freight service withdrawn

Alnwick railway station served the town of Alnwick, in Northumberland, England. It was the terminus of two routes: the Alnwick branch line, which diverged from the East Coast Main Line at Alnmouth, and the Cornhill branch line to Coldstream.

History

The first station on the edge of the town opened, along with the branch, on 19 August 1850; it was first used by a special train on 6 August.

It was replaced by a station nearer the town centre, which was opened in 1887 by the North Eastern Railway. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the North Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

The station was also the terminus of the Cornhill branch line to Coldstream, which closed to passengers on 22 September 1930.

It was closed to passengers by the British Railways Board in January 1968 and completely in October 1968.

In 1993, a proposal to redevelop the site into a supermarket failed.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Terminus		North Eastern Railway Alnwick branch line		Alnmouth Line closed; station open
Edlingham Line and station closed		North Eastern Railway Cornhill branch line		Terminus

The site today

The trainshed remains intact and in use, including by Barter Books; the platforms have been in-filled.

The bookshop, with its model railway network, was featured in Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys (first broadcast on BBC2, 23 January 2012) and Tim Dunn's The Architecture the Railways Built (first broadcast on Yesterday, 25 October 2021).

References

Sources

• 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 ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• 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 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
• Scott-Morgan, John (1980). British Independent Light Railways. David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7933-X
• Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.

External links

• Alnwick station on navigable 1947 O. S. map
• Disused Stations: Alnwick
• "Northumbrian Railways".
• "Aln Valley Railway Society".
• The station on navigable O.S. map