Alston is a heritage railway station on the South Tynedale Railway. The station, situated south of Haltwhistle, is in the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

of Alston, Eden in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, England. It was originally on the Alston Branch Line, which ran between Haltwhistle and Alston. It was opened by the North Eastern Railway on 21 May 1852, closing on 3 May 1976. Following a seven-year closure, the station reopened in July 1983, as part of the South Tynedale Railway.

History

The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway was formed in 1829, opening to passengers in stages from March 1835. A branch line from Haltwhistle to Alston and Nenthead was first considered in 1841, with the line authorised by an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

in August 1846. It was later decided that a line operating as far as Alston was sufficient, with the amended route approved by a further Act in July 1849. In March 1851, the section from Haltwhistle to Shaft Hill (which was later renamed Coanwood) was opened to goods traffic, with passenger services commencing in July 1851. The section of the line between Alston and Lambley opened to goods traffic in January 1852, along with a short branch to Lambley Fell, with passenger services commencing in May 1852. Construction of the branch line was completed in November 1852, following the opening of the, now

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, Lambley Viaduct over the

River South Tyne The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wat ...

. The station was well provided having a single platform with a train shed roof covering both the platform, and two tracks. The train shed roof was originally arc-shaped but was replaced in 1872–3 with a double-pitched roof. The train shed was connected to a set of station buildings with ornate chimneys and

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

ed windows. Beyond the platform the line terminated in a turntable, although this was removed before the end of steam. Other buildings included an engine shed, goods shed, snowplough shed and

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...

, amongst others. An unusual feature of the station was the height of the original platform, which was constructed to be only high. This was, however, later increased to . The station was host to a camping coach in 1933 and from 1936 to 1939 – one of 119 vehicles converted by the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

between 1933 and 1938.

Demise and closure

Alston became an unstaffed halt in 1969, with Lambley succeeding three years earlier. Featherstone Park and

Slaggyford Slaggyford is a village in Northumberland, England about north of Alston, Cumbria. It is set in South Tyne valley (often called the Tyne Gap). Hadrian's Wall lies to the north of the Tyne Gap. The South Tyne Valley falls within the North Pennin ...

were reduced to unstaffed halt status in 1954, along with

Coanwood Coanwood is a village in Northumberland, England, and is part of the Parish of Haltwhistle. It is about to the south-west of Haltwhistle, on the South Tyne. Nearby is the village of Lambley. Coanwood was anciently written as Collingwood meani ...

in 1955. The line was originally marked for closure in the 1960s, under the Beeching plan, however the lack of an all-weather road kept it open. Following improvements to the road network, including a temporary level crossing over the branch at Lambley, the line was closed on 3 May 1976 by the British Railways Board, with the last train working two days earlier. The line was replaced in part by a bus service, which was operated by

Ribble Motor Services Ribble Motor Services was a large regional bus operator in the North West England based in Preston. History Ribble Motor Services commenced operating in 1919, and grew to be the largest operator in the region, with a territory stretching f ...

South Tynedale Railway

In July 1983, the station reopened as part of the South Tynedale Railway, also serving as the organisation's headquarters. The narrow-gauge

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

operates along a section of the former Alston Line, which closed to passengers in May 1976. The railway serves former stations at

and Alston, as well as purpose-built stations at Lintley Halt and

Kirkhaugh Kirkhaugh is a very small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Knaresdale with Kirkhaugh, adjacent to the River South Tyne in Northumberland, England. The village lies close to the A689 road north of Alston, Cumbria. In 1 ...

References

Sources

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External links