The Cornhill Branch was a single track branch railway line in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, England, that ran from on the terminus of the three mile long Alnmouth to Alnwick line via ten intermediate stations to a junction on the to

Kelso Branch The Kelso Branch was a twin track branch railway in Northumberland, England and Roxburghshire, Scotland that ran from on the East Coast Main Line via seven intermediate stations to . History Plans for a horse drawn railway between Berwic ...

line at

Cornhill-on-Tweed Cornhill-on-Tweed is a small village and civil parish in Northumberland, England about to the east of Coldstream, Scotland. The hamlets of West Learmouth and East Learmouth are located to the south and west of the village respectively. Histor ...

History

Authorised in 1882, the Cornhill Branch was built to link the farming communities of north

with 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 ...

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...

, and link the North Eastern Railway's Kelso line to its Alnwick Branch. Construction was started by the North Eastern Railway in 1884. The line opened to freight between Cornhill and Wooperton on 2 May 1887, and the whole line for both freight and passengers on 5 September of the same year. The line had difficulty attracting passengers because many of the stations were some distance from the communities they served. Increased bus competition in the 1920s led to passenger trains being withdrawn on 22 September 1930, although the service resumed briefly during the Second World War to serve

RAF Milfield Royal Air Force Milfield or more simply RAF Milfield is a former Royal Air Force station which operated during the Second World War, located near Milfield, Northumberland, England. History The airfield opened on 26 January 1942, hosting No. 5 ...

, near . After a severe storm in August 1948Passengers No More by G.Daniels and L.Dench washed away a bridge north of Ilderton station,

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

, which had recently taken over the line, decided that the low volume of rail traffic did not warrant replacing it. The line was thus split into two, to Ilderton, and to . That, coupled with an infrequent service, caused the line to go further into decline. The section from Alnwick to Ilderton closed on 2 March 1953, with the other section following suit on 29 March 1965. * Mindrum Station: 55°35'55.26"N 2°13'52.79"W * Kirknewton Station: 55°34'2.26"N 2° 8'38.20"W * Akeld Station: 55°33'48.49"N 2° 4'15.02"W (correct coordinates—coordinates in Akeld station article are several hundred feet off.) * Wooler Station: 55°32'59.47"N 2° 0'43.14"W (correct coordinates—coordinates in Wooler station article are several hundred feet off.) * Ilderton Station: 55°30'22.31"N 1°58'14.28"W * Wooperton Station: 55°28'29.35"N 1°55'33.56"W * Hedgeley Station: 55°26'44.95"N 1°54'25.53"W * Glanton Station: 55°25'34.33"N 1°52'20.35"W * Whittingham Station: 55°24'11.22"N 1°51'37.04"W * Edlingham Station:..........

Inglenook Sidings

Inglenook Sidings Inglenook Sidings, created by Alan Wright (1928 - January 2005), is a model railway train shunting puzzle. It consists of a specific track layout, a set of initial conditions, a defined goal, and rules which must be obeyed while performing the sh ...

, created by Alan Wright (1928 - January 2005), is a well-known model railway train shunting puzzle. It consists of a specific track layout, a set of initial conditions, a defined goal, and rules which must be obeyed while performing the shunting operations. The puzzle is based on Kilham Sidings, on the Alnwick-Cornhill branch of the North Eastern Railway (NER).

References

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External links

The line on Northumbrian RailwaysThe line's history by Northumberland National ParkAlnwick on Disused Stations including a history of the Cornhill Branch
Alnwick North Eastern Railway (UK) Closed railway lines in North East England Railway lines opened in 1887 Rail transport in Northumberland