Newcastle to Ashington via Morpeth - 13th August

[yorkie]

I just saw a Northern service for Ashington at Morpeth, and I see that trains are being diverted that way, due to a signalling fault. From NRE:

Incident: Ashington | National Rail

Disruption between Newcastle and Ashington . Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

Description​

A fault with the signalling system between Newcastle and Ashington means that some lines running between these stations are blocked.

As a result of this, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 15 minutes, revised or diverted.

Disruption is expected until 12:30.

Additional Information:

Network Rail engineers are on site working to rectify the issue.

Customer Advice:

Services running between Newcastle and Ashington will not call at Seaton Delaval or Newsham in either direction.

Road transport has been requested to operate as follows:

• 09:35 Ashington to Newcastle calling at Newsham and Seaton Delaval - provided by Northstar
• 09:55 Newcastle to Ashington calling at Seaton Delaval and Newsham - provided by JH Coaches
• 11:35 Newcastle to Ashington calling at Seaton Delaval and Newsham - provided by Northstar
• 11:35 Ashington to Newcastle calling at Newsham and Seaton Delaval - provided by JH Coaches

I've never taken that route, and I imagine many others reading this haven't gone that way either. It's quite unusual.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 13 Aug 2025 ==

The train I saw was:

Realtime Trains | 2T23 1046 Newcastle to Ashington | 13/08/2025

Real-time train running information for 2T23 1046 departure from Newcastle to Ashington on 13/08/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

1046 Newcastle to Ashington

 

[Snex]

Was just about to head towards this today to head into Newcastle but noticed that the line is completely shut this morning / early afternoon at Newsham and Seaton Delaval (my station).

Does anyone know how the trains are getting to Ashington? I assume they're heading up via Morpeth and Choppington and reversing at Bedlington Station?

Unless I've missed something is this the first time this has happened?

 

[zwk500]

Was just about to head towards this today to head into Newcastle but noticed that the line is completely shut this morning / early afternoon at Newsham and Seaton Delaval (my station).

Does anyone know how the trains are getting to Ashington? I assume they're heading up via Morpeth and Choppington and reversing at Bedlington Station?

From RTT that does appear to be the case (no report between Benton North jn and Bedlington), although the signalling layout means they'll need to draw beyond Bedlington to reverse on the Down Line. 1tph appears to be cancelled to thin out the service. 2T35 seems to have made it through Newsham though.

Realtime Trains | Departures from Bedlington all day on 13/08/2025

Train information at Bedlington all day on 13/08/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 2T35 1350 Newcastle to Ashington | 13/08/2025

Real-time train running information for 2T35 1350 departure from Newcastle to Ashington on 13/08/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[tynesider]

Was just about to head towards this today to head into Newcastle but noticed that the line is completely shut this morning / early afternoon at Newsham and Seaton Delaval (my station).

Does anyone know how the trains are getting to Ashington? I assume they're heading up via Morpeth and Choppington and reversing at Bedlington Station?

Unless I've missed something is this the first time this has happened?

Not the first time this has happened.

On 24th June, due to a dewirement on the adjacent Metro line at Northumberland Park, a limited Northern service ran via Hepscott Junction / Choppington.

Some services reversed at Bedlington, whilst others ran Newcastle - (non stop via Morpeth and Bedlington) - Newsham - Seaton Delaval (reverse) - Newsham again - Ashington.

 

[GuyGibsonVC]

Power failure at Benton. They were running via Bedlington which required the Morpeth stopper to be moved as it usually occupies that line when going back to Newcastle.

Why? Because local residents complained about the noise of it being in the sidings!

 

[Class 170101]

Can you reverse at Bedlington or as per my slightly Old Quail map it has to reverse south of the station?

 

[Snex]

From RTT that does appear to be the case (no report between Benton North jn and Bedlington), although the signalling layout means they'll need to draw beyond Bedlington to reverse on the Down Line. 1tph appears to be cancelled to thin out the service. 2T35 seems to have made it through Newsham though.

Realtime Trains | Departures from Bedlington all day on 13/08/2025

Train information at Bedlington all day on 13/08/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 2T35 1350 Newcastle to Ashington | 13/08/2025

Real-time train running information for 2T35 1350 departure from Newcastle to Ashington on 13/08/2025. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Not the first time this has happened.

On 24th June, due to a dewirement on the adjacent Metro line at Northumberland Park, a limited Northern service ran via Hepscott Junction / Choppington.

Some services reversed at Bedlington, whilst others ran Newcastle - (non stop via Morpeth and Bedlington) - Newsham - Seaton Delaval (reverse) - Newsham again - Ashington.

Power failure at Benton. They were running via Bedlington which required the Morpeth stopper to be moved as it usually occupies that line when going back to Newcastle.

Why? Because local residents complained about the noise of it being in the sidings!

Going to reply together otherwise I'll just be echoing.

Thanks for confirming, must have missed that one on the 24th June.

 

[zwk500]

Can you reverse at Bedlington or as per my slightly Old Quail map it has to reverse south of the station?

from open data it appears passenger trains from Morpeth to Ashington (and vice versa) need to reverse between the signals circled in pink on the Down line south of the station:

(Screenshot from Signalmaps.org)