Chathill railway station

Chathill railway station is on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) in England, serving Chathill and surrounding villages including Seahouses, Embleton, Bamburgh and Belford, in Northumberland. It is 314 miles 57 chains (506.5 km) down the line from London King's Cross and is situated between Alnmouth to the south and Berwick-upon-Tweed to the north, although no trains continue north from Chathill. Its three-letter station code is CHT.

Chathill
Chathill Railway Station - Station House
Location
Place	Chathill
Local authority	County of Northumberland
Grid reference	NU186270
Operations
Station code	CHT
Managed by	Northern Trains
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	2,448
2015/16	2,574
2016/17	2,768
2017/18	2,162
2018/19	2,546
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Chathill from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Although it is on the main line, the station is served by just two arrivals and departures per day, Mondays to Saturdays only, providing commuting links to Newcastle. The services are operated by Northern Trains, which also manages the station. As Chathill is the northern terminus of these services and the Northern network, there are no direct connections between Chathill and stations further north (the diesel multiple unit used on these services runs empty northwards from here to Belford loop to reverse before returning to take up its southbound working).

The station was for many years served by loco-hauled stopping trains between Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh Waverley (the British Rail timetable for 1982 had four departures each way from here), but these were reduced in frequency and curtailed at Berwick by BR at the latter end of the 1980s and subsequently withdrawn altogether north of Chathill after the introduction of electric working on the ECML in 1991.[1]

Because of the limited service, an easement permits passengers wishing to travel northwards towards Berwick-upon-Tweed and Scotland may double back via Alnmouth.[2] The local rail user group SENRUG has been campaigning since September 2016 to have local services on the Newcastle - Berwick - Edinburgh corridor increased (to offer more choice for commuters and offer leisure opportunities for visitors to locations such as Lindisfarne and St Cuthbert's Way) which would see service levels from here improved if the proposals were adopted.[3]

Station approach in 1988

The station was opened by the Newcastle & Berwick Railway in 1847 and between 1898 and 1951, it was the southwestern terminus of the North Sunderland Railway. Independent until its takeover by the LNER in 1939, it formed a standard gauge rail link to the fishing village of Seahouses.[4]

It has retained its grade II listed main building and signal box on the northbound side, though neither is in operational use (the station house is privately owned and the box houses signalling equipment).[5][6][7] The level crossing here is remotely operated by CCTV.

Facilities

The station is unmanned and has no ticket facilities, so intending passengers must buy tickets on the train or prior to travel. There is a large stone waiting shelter on the southbound platform, but no other amenities apart from information posters on each side. Step-free access is available to each platform.[8]

Services

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

The station sees only two services per day in each direction, and only on Mondays-Saturdays including bank holidays. Southbound services run to Newcastle at 07:10 and 19:15 (weekdays), and 07:10 and 19:30 on a Saturday in the winter 2018 timetable; both trains continue beyond Newcastle via the Tyne Valley line (the morning service to Prudhoe and the evening train to Carlisle). Northbound services from Newcastle arrive (and terminate here) at 06:47 and 18:54 on weekdays and 06:47 and 19:01 on Saturdays, the latter in each case starts from MetroCentre.[9]

There is no Sunday service.

References

1. BR National Rail Timetable May 1991 Edition, Table 47
2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 30 December 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. North of Morpeth Local Services SENRUG website article; Retrieved 9 February 2017
4. Wright, 1988
5. Chathill station (2002) Stafford, William Geograph.org.uk; Retrieved 9 February 2017
6. Historic England. "Chathill Station and Down Platform  (Grade II) (1276357)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
7. Historic England. "Signal Box at Chathill Station  (Grade II) (1276364)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
8. Chathill station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 9 February 2017
9. GB National Rail Timetable December 2018, Table 48

Sources

• Wright, A., (1988), The North Sunderland Railway, The Oakwood Press, Locomotion Papers No. 36, ISBN 0-85361-335-4

External links

• Train times and station information for Chathill railway station from National Rail
• Northumbrian Railways - Chathill Station

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Alnmouth		Northern Trains East Coast Main Line Mondays-Saturdays only		Terminus
	Historical railways
Fallodon Line open, station closed		York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway East Coast Main Line		Newham Line open, station closed
Terminus		London and North Eastern Railway North Sunderland Railway		North Sunderland Line and station closed