Alnmouth railway station

Alnmouth railway station is on the East Coast Main Line in England, serving the village of Alnmouth and neighbouring settlements including Alnwick, in Northumberland. It is 303 miles 45 chains (488.5 km) down the line from London King's Cross and is situated between Acklington to the south and Chathill to the north.

Alnmouth
Alnmouth in 2009 with a National Express East Coast High Speed Train heading north
Location
Place	Alnmouth
Local authority	County of Northumberland
Coordinates	55.392°N 1.636°W / 55.392; -1.636
Grid reference	NU230110
Operations
Station code	ALM
Managed by	Northern Trains
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.305 million
2015/16	0.294 million
2016/17	0.312 million
2017/18	0.340 million
2018/19	0.345 million
History
Original company	Newcastle and Berwick Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
1 July 1847	Opened as Bilton[1]
2 May 1892	Renamed Alnmouth[1][2]
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Alnmouth from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

The station was opened on 1 July 1847 as Bilton by the Newcastle and Berwick Railway[1][3] and from 1854 run by the North Eastern Railway. On 1 October 1850 it became the junction for the Alnwick branch line and was significantly upgraded by the NER in 1887–88.[4] On 2 May 1892 the station's name was changed to Alnmouth.[1][2]

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 The Alnwick branch service was withdrawn in January 1968, with freight traffic ending in October the same year. The station had an additional platform face on the 'down' (northbound) side for use by branch trains, but this lost its track in the early 1970s after the branch closed (along with the buildings on that side) and was removed altogether prior to the station being refurbished in 2004.[5] The main building on the southbound platform is not original - it was erected in 1987 to replace the original structures constructed when the Alnwick branch opened in 1850.

When Sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by the Intercity Sector until the privatisation of British Rail.

Facilities

The station is staffed, with the ticket office on platform 1 manned each day (06:40-18:15 Mon-Sat, 10:20-21:30 Sundays). A self-service ticket machine is also provided (this can be used to collect pre-paid tickets as well as for use when the booking office is closed). There is a waiting shelter and help point on platform 2 as well as a waiting room, vending machine and toilets on platform 1. Level access is available to both platforms via lifts in the footbridge. Train running information is offered via automated announcements, digital displays and timetable posters.[6]

Services

London North Eastern Railway routes
Inverness Aviemore Kingussie Pitlochry Perth Gleneagles Stirling Falkirk Grahamston Aberdeen Stonehaven Montrose Arbroath Dundee Leuchars Kirkcaldy Inverkeithing Glasgow Central Motherwell Haymarket Edinburgh Waverley Dunbar Berwick-upon-Tweed Alnmouth Morpeth Sunderland Newcastle Durham Darlington Northallerton York Leeds Skipton Keighley Bradford Forster Square Shipley Harrogate Horsforth Leeds Wakefield Westgate Hull Brough Selby Doncaster Retford Lincoln Newark North Gate Grantham Peterborough Stevenage London King's Cross

Northern Trains Route 1: East Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line to Edinburgh Chathill Alnmouth Acklington Widdrington Pegswood Morpeth Cramlington Manors Durham Coast Line to Middlesbrough Newcastle Tyne Valley Line to Carlisle East Coast Main Line to London King's Cross

Alnmouth station is managed by Northern Trains, even though the majority of its services are provided by other operators.

The majority of services are provided by CrossCountry trains running between Newcastle and Edinburgh. London North Eastern Railway services calling here were reduced in the May 2011 timetable change so that they are less frequent. However, these services are every two hours during the day for both Newcastle/London and Edinburgh. With CrossCountry also calling every second hour, the net frequency provided is approximately hourly each way.[7]

Occasional Northern Trains local services operating to and from Chathill also call here - currently these consist of one morning and one evening train in each direction (except Sundays). Both southbound trains continue south of Newcastle, the morning one to Prudhoe and the evening equivalent to Carlisle.[8] The evening northbound train also starts back from the MetroCentre.

From December 2019, one northbound and two southbound TransPennine Express services began to call at Alnmouth.[9]

Alnmouth will also become the eastern terminus of the Aln Valley (Heritage) Railway which is being reconstructed along the Alnwick branch line.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Morpeth		CrossCountry Cross Country Network		Berwick-upon-Tweed
Morpeth		London North Eastern Railway London-Edinburgh		Berwick-upon-Tweed
Acklington		Northern Trains East Coast Main Line Mondays-Saturdays only		Chathill
Morpeth		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Berwick-upon-Tweed
	Historical railways
Warkworth Line open, station closed		York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway East Coast Main Line		Lesbury Line open, station closed
Terminus		North Eastern Railway Alnwick branch line		Alnwick Line and station closed

References

Notes

1. Butt 1995, p. 34
2. Butt 1995, p. 15
3. Body 1989, p. 193
4. "A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EAST COAST MAIN LINE IN NORTHUMBERLAND" Young, Alan Disused Stations Site Record; Retrieved 13 February 2017
5. "An up ECML express runs south through Alnmouth station during refurbishment works in May 2004. Crawford, E Railscot; Retrieved 9 February 2017
6. Alnmouth station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 8 February 2017
7. GB eNRT December 2018 Edition, Table 26 (Network Rail)
8. GB eNRT December 2018 Edition, Table 48 (Network Rail)
9. TransPennine Express services calling at Alnmouth 17 December 2019 Real Train Times

Sources

• Body, G. (1989). PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2: Northern operating area (1st ed.). Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0072-1. OCLC 59892452.

• Butt, R. V. J. (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.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
• 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.
• Station on navigable O.S. map
• RAILSCOT on Newcastle and Berwick Railway
• Disused Stations Site Record - A Brief History of the East Coast Main Line in Northumberland