Could LNER divert via the new Northumberland Line?

[Chiltern006]

Essentially the title.

Is it a feasible option for LNER to divert via this new line and use the piece of track between Bedlington and Morpeth, should their be engineering works between Newcastle and Morpeth? Map attached to illustrate.

I am not sure whether the line is in disrepair, or whether some work has been done as a result of the Northumberland Line, however this diversion would save a significant amount of time compared to the Tyne Valley. Thoughts?

(those wondering what the map is, its my own work and forms part of a bigger map)

 

[swt_passenger]

Essentially the title.

Is it a feasible option for LNER to divert via this new line and use the piece of track between Bedlington and Morpeth, should their be engineering works between Newcastle and Morpeth? Map attached to illustrate.

I am not sure whether the line is in disrepair, or whether some work has been done as a result of the Northumberland Line, however this diversion would save a significant amount of time compared to the Tyne Valley. Thoughts?

(those wondering what the map is, its my own work and forms part of a bigger map)

Yes. For a long time until comparatively recently LNER and their predecessors ran regular route learning services via Bedlington. The single line from Morpeth Junction to Bedlington is a passenger line, as per the sectional appendix, but as a single line is not going to be high capacity.

There were stakeholder “demonstration trains” that ran during 2023 between Newcastle and Morpeth via Bedlington, because at that stage traincrew were not yet trained to Ashington.

 

[Chiltern006]

Ah okay, thanks. Understandable that capacity is limited. Something to potentially look forward to in the future then

 

[swt_passenger]

Ah okay, thanks. Understandable that capacity is limited. Something to potentially look forward to in the future then

I think back when the Plessey Viaduct collapse occurred some people on here wondered why southbound services hadn’t been diverted via Bedlington, and that’s possibly when it came up that route knowledge was no longer being maintained. I suspect for the normal annual cyclic maintenance they do work on the whole route well into Scotland, so the ability to divert via Bedlington wouldn’t help much for those annual diversions via Carlisle.

 

[Chiltern006]

That is true. I suppose isolated work between Morpeth and Newcastle is limited

 

[Halish Railway]

Newcastle to Morpeth via the ECML also has bi-directional signalling, removing some of the need for the diversionary route to be used (e.g. track defect or the inevitable ECML OLE failure), although taking the Bedlington route off of the traction cards seems like a silly idea.

 

[a1smith]

The mainline train has been diverted to run through Bedlington Station in the recent past. I can't recall why it was done or exactly when though, but it made a difference to those freight trains.

 

[timj]

By the way the other railway marked in green on your map (going North West from Ashington towards the ECML) has been long disused, has track missing in parts and the rest has trees growing in the middle. It was a private light railway owned by UK Coal serving Butterwell colliery, it did lead right from Ashington station to the ECML but points the wrong way as shown on your diagram.

 

[PaulLothian]

I do remember a trip from Darlington to Edinburgh on a very foggy winter Sunday night nearly 50 years ago that used that route, via a reversal in Morpeth. No recollection of the reason or of how they managed the reversal in diesel loco days.

 

[Killingworth]

Nostalgia reminds me that ECML diversions avoiding the Heaton area used to run via Benton North West curve, South Gosforth and Manors into Central - then North Tyneside electric territory, now impossible as mostly Metro.

 

[androdas]

The Morpeth - Bedlington line is well maintained to passenger standard and is used by the daily freight between Blyth and Fort William as well as Northern ECS between Bedlington and Morpeth.

The Butterwell branch however is mostly gone between the old Potland Burn opencast and Ashington with Ashington North junction going at the same time as the signalbox around 2010 and was never built to a high standard being and old NCB railway so in essence would be a brand new railway if it was ever brought into use.

There was a proposal about a couple of years ago by NB Clark a local aggregates company to use the old Butterwell opencast disposal point as an stone terminal but nothing seems to have come of it so far by way of using the railway and last time I was around there the track was very overgrown.

 

[swt_passenger]

I do remember a trip from Darlington to Edinburgh on a very foggy winter Sunday night nearly 50 years ago that used that route, via a reversal in Morpeth. No recollection of the reason or of how they managed the reversal in diesel loco days.

I think if your memory is correct about it being near 50 years ago they would have had to reverse at Morpeth, because the direct northbound link from Hepscott Junction wasn’t put in until 1980.

 

[Hogg1905]

I've started a campaign (The Northumberland Coast Loop https://northumberlandcoastloop.uk/) to see the Newcastle, Bedlington, to Berwick route used regularly for passenger services now that stations are opening as part of the Northumberland Line and therefore would give places like Blyth (largest town in Northumberland), and North Tyneside direct rail links heading northward (possible today via the Morpeth North Curve that didn't exist until 1980, so wouldn't have been possible pre passenger closure in 1964).

I'm booked on the SRPS 'The Seven Counties Rambler (https://www.srpsrailtours.co.uk/#/tourpage/2025030800) that is due over the route on 8th March 2025, to me it is a route that could be used to great effect, and if a regular used passenger route would allow for route knowledge to be maintained and diversions to be organised more readily?

 

[Killingworth]

I've started a campaign (The Northumberland Coast Loop https://northumberlandcoastloop.uk/) to see the Newcastle, Bedlington, to Berwick route used regularly for passenger services now that stations are opening as part of the Northumberland Line and therefore would give places like Blyth (largest town in Northumberland), and North Tyneside direct rail links heading northward (possible today via the Morpeth North Curve that didn't exist until 1980, so wouldn't have been possible pre passenger closure in 1964).

I'm booked on the SRPS 'The Seven Counties Rambler (https://www.srpsrailtours.co.uk/#/tourpage/2025030800) that is due over the route on 8th March 2025, to me it is a route that could be used to great effect, and if a regular used passenger route would allow for route knowledge to be maintained and diversions to be organised more readily?

What is there at Pegswood to justify such stops? (Or most of the other small stations.)

There's very limited car parking nearby. The station is very basic and on the fringe of the built up area.

The half hourly 35 bus runs from Morpeth to Newbiggin and the hourly X18 from Newcastle to Alnmouth. Both are well used and go closer to more houses and businesses than the railway.

 

[androdas]

The timetable on the Northumberland Line is already extremely tight and I think at the limit of what can be achieved without redoubling the single sections, it has only been open a month and already there has been delays caused by late running freight on the line. It may be possible to redouble the Seaton Delaval single section but that would mean another platform needed and for the part that runs alongside the Metro you are talking at least a new A19 bridge and rebuilding Palmersville and Northumberland Park stations and even then there are areas where there is just no room for a 4th track, unless you can do some sort of track sharing with metro akin to what happens on the Sunderland line. Any solution for capacity improvement is going to cost a fair chunk of money and I'm afraid there doesn't seem to be much of that about for the foreseeable future.

The line via hepscott always has been sporadically used for diversion and continues to be however the constraints mentioned above have limited it to overnight freight if there is engineering work between Morpeth and Benton so it is probably not that useful to the likes of LNER with the half hourly Northern service plus freights taking most of the available paths.

 

[timj]

What is there at Pegswood to justify such stops? (Or most of the other small stations.)

There's very limited car parking nearby. The station is very basic and on the fringe of the built up area.

The half hourly 35 bus runs from Morpeth to Newbiggin and the hourly X18 from Newcastle to Alnmouth. Both are well used and go closer to more houses and businesses than the railway.

I agree, Pegswood (for example) appears to be one of the main stations on this 'Northumberland Coast Loop', yet trains going South from it miss the local focal point of Morpeth by less than a mile, then miss Ashington, then skirting round the edge of Blyth from which a bus would be needed to reach its centre, finally getting to Newcastle after a bizarre roundabout route. Its a bit like the Leamside line which also just misses the main town in the area, Durham.