Newcastle and Carlisle Railway

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Newcastle and Carlisle Railway

Legend East Coast Main Line towards Edinburgh Durham Coast Line towards Sunderland Newcastle Central King Edward VII Bridge across the River Tyne East Coast Main Line towards Darlington Dunston Limited service Elswick Closed 1967 MetroCentre Scotswood Closed 1967 Scotswood Railway Bridge across the River Tyne Lemington Closed 1958 Blaydon Newburn Closed 1958 Ryton Closed 1954 Heddon on the Wall Closed 1958 Wylam North Wylam Closed 1968 Wylam Railway Bridge across the River Tyne Prudhoe Stocksfield Riding Mill Corbridge Hexham Border Counties Railway Allendale branch Fourstones Closed 1967 Haydon Bridge Bardon Mill Alston Line Closed 1976 Haltwhistle Greenhead Closed 1967 Gilsland Closed 1967 Low Row Closed 1959 Naworth colleries branch Closed 1953 Brampton Brampton Town Closed 1923 How Mill Closed 1959 Wetheral Scotby Closed 1959 Settle-Carlisle Line Cumbrian Coast Line and West Coast Main Line Carlisle West Coast Main Line towards Glasgow

The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, also known as the Tyne Valley Line, is a railway line in northern England. The 60 mile (97 km) line was built in the 1830s, and links the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in Tyne and Wear with Carlisle in Cumbria. Formal opening took place on 18 June 1838.

The line follows the course of the River Tyne through Northumberland. Five stations and two viaducts on the route are listed structures.

Passenger services on the Tyne Valley Line are operated by Northern Rail and First ScotRail. The line is also heavily used for freight, and is an important diversionary route during East Coast Main Line closures.

Contents 1 Route 2 History 3 Branch Lines 4 Rolling Stock 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] Route

Immediately after crossing the Tyne from Newcastle, the Newcastle and Carlisle diverges from the southbound East Coast Main Line and passes west through Gateshead, with stations at Dunston, Metro Centre and Blaydon. Originally it would have run along the north bank of the Tyne for around four miles, serving the Sir W G Armstrong & Co works at Elswick, before crossing the Tyne at Scotswood and rejoining its current route along the south bank from Blaydon.

Past Blaydon, the line enters Northumberland and passes Wylam station. The station house at Wylam was built in 1835, and is Grade II* listed. Other principal stops in Northumberland include Prudhoe, Corbridge, Hexham and Haltwhistle.

In Cumbria, the Tyne Valley line serves Brampton Junction and Wetheral stations. The line joins the Settle-Carlisle Railway just before reaching Carlisle Citadel station.

The full list of towns and villages served by the line are listed below.

• Newcastle upon Tyne
• Dunston
• Metro Centre
• Blaydon
• Wylam
• Prudhoe
• Stocksfield
• Riding Mill
• Corbridge
• Hexham
• Haydon Bridge
• Bardon Mill
• Haltwhistle
• Brampton
• Wetheral
• Carlisle

[edit] History

The railway was built by the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway Company, gaining Royal Assent on 22 May 1829. The line was built in sections from 1834 onwards; the entire route between Carlisle London Road railway station and Redheugh in Gateshead was formally opened to passengers on 18 June 1838. A temporary Tyne bridge was built at Scotswood to allow trains to reach a terminus in Newcastle - this opened on 21 October 1839. N&CR trains first used Newcastle Central railway station on 1 January 1851.

The N&CR was absorbed into the North Eastern Railway on 17 July 1862. From 1864, trains ran to Carlisle Citadel station, and the old London Road station was closed. In 1870, the temporary bridge at Scotswood was removed, and a new iron Scotswood Bridge was built to replace it.

A north Tyne route - the North Wylam loop - was constructed for colliery and passenger traffic in the mid-1870s. It diverged from the original N&CR at Scotswood, ran along the north bank of the Tyne, and crossed the river at Wylam (via Wylam Railway Bridge) where it joined the N&CR again. Stations were built at Newburn, Lemington, Heddon-on-the-Wall and North Wylam. The North Wylam loop fell under the Beeching Axe in the 1960s, and closed to passengers on 11 March 1968.

On 4 October 1982, British Rail closed the Scotswood Bridge, which had become uneconomic to maintain. Tyne Valley trains from Newcastle were diverted to use the present route, crossing the King Edward VII Bridge south-west of Newcastle Central Station, and running via Dunston to Blaydon.

Former stations on the line include Scotswood, Elswick, Greenhead and Gilsland.

[edit] Branch Lines

Originally the railway had four passenger branch lines leading off it:

• The Border Counties Railway branched off just west of Hexham and passed through Kielder and the North Tyne Valley, before joining up with the Scottish rail network near Hawick. It was also linked to the Wansbeck Valley Railway, which ran from Redesmouth to Morpeth and connected to the branch line from Rothbury. The Border Counties line closed to passengers in 1956, and to all traffic in 1958 (five years before the Beeching Axe), although a small section of track between Redesmouth and Bellingham was retained, accessed from the Wansbeck line, until the latter shut in the mid sixties.
• The Allendale branch came off near the village of Haydon Bridge and was primarily used to carry minerals from mines and quarries around Allendale and the village of Langley. It was never popular, with passenger services ending in the 1930s, and the line closed completely in 1953.
• The Alston branch covered 17 miles (27 km) from the town of Haltwhistle. This branch provided a passenger services and also, in the early days, served the hundreds of lead mines in the upper South Tyne Valley. It included the monumental Lambley Viaduct and was the last of the branch lines to close in 1976. Part of the Alston end has been turned into a narrow gauge heritage railway, the South Tynedale Railway.
• There was a short branch closed to passengers in 1923 from Brampton station into the town of Brampton.

[edit] Rolling Stock

The line is not an electrified route; passenger services are therefore operated by diesel multiple units, typically Class 142 "Pacers". Class 156 "Super Sprinters" which were introduced in the late 1980s and on rare occasions Class 158s which were introduced in the early 90s. Prior to this, Metro-Cammell Class 101 units were used.

[edit] Further reading

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. 
• Whittle, G. (1979). The Newcastle & Carlisle Railway. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-7855-4. 
• Young, Alan (2003). Railways in Northumberland. Pudsey: Martin Bairstow. ISBN 1-871944-26-0. 

[edit] External links

• British Railways in 1960 - Newcastle to Carlisle
• Railscot site for Newcastle and Carlisle Railway
• BVE simulation of the Tyne Valley line

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