Mindrum railway station

Mindrum
General information
Location	Mindrum, Northumberland England
Grid reference	NT854339
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway, North Eastern Region of British Railways
Key dates
2 May 1887	Station opened for freight
5 September 1887	Station opened to passengers
22 September 1930	Station closed to passengers
16 January 1961	Station downgraded to goods siding
29 March 1965	Station closed

Mindrum railway station served the hamlet of Mindrum and the surrounding villages, in Northumberland, England. It was on the Cornhill Branch, which connected Alnwick with Cornhill Junction on the Kelso line, near Coldstream.

History

Authorised in 1882, the Cornhill Branch was built to link the farming communities of north Northumberland with the market town of Alnwick and link the North Eastern Railway's Kelso line to its Alnwick Branch. Construction started by the North Eastern Railway in 1884; the line opened to freight between Cornhill and Wooperton on 2 May 1887 and the whole line for both freight and passengers on 5 September of the same year.

The line had difficulty attracting passengers as many of the stations were some distance from the communities they served. Increased bus competition in the 1920s led to passenger trains being withdrawn on 22 September 1930 although the service resumed briefly during the Second World War to serve RAF Milfield near Akeld.

After a severe storm in 1949 washed away a bridge north of Ilderton station, British Railways, which had recently taken over the line, decided that the volume of traffic along the line did not warrant replacing it. The line was thus split into two: Alnwick to Ilderton and Coldstream to Wooler, which included Akeld. This, coupled with an infrequent service, caused the line to go further into decline and the section from Alnwick to Ilderton closed on 2 March 1953; the other section and Mindrum station following suit on 29 March 1965.

Services

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Coldstream		North Eastern Railway Cornhill branch line		Kirknewton

The site today

The stone-built station building is now a private residence.

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.

External links

• Mindrum station on Northumbrian Railways website
• Mindrum station on Disused Stations website
• Mindrum station on a navigable 1947 O. S. map