Amid afternoon shadows, ‘Tug’ No. 60087 eases its Tyne Coal Terminal to Lynemouth Power Station train loaded with biomass wood pellets through the disused platforms at Ashington on September 19, 2019 – the station having closed in 1964. The power station, which relies on deliveries throughout the week, is one of the main customers using the Northumberland Line. In order to avoid a knock-on effect for freight trains, the new station will take the form of a bay, necessitating the removal of part of the old northbound platform (right of picture) and a section of the adjoining car park.
UNLESS STATED,
ALL PHOTOS BY GRAEME PICKERING
FROM December 2023, after a gap of almost 60 years, communities in the south-eastern corner of Northumberland are due to regain their train service.
The line itself never closed and has continued to carry freight since passenger traffic ceased in 1964, but the towns and villages in this comparatively densely-populated part of an otherwise mainly rural county have struggled.
The area includes Blyth, Northumberland’s largest town (population circa 39,000), Ashington (with a population of around 29,000) and Bedlington (circa 18,000), as well as Seaton Delaval (circa 8,000), which is close to the North Tyneside boundary and earmarked for significant housing development.
With the decline of local industry, the area’s economy was described as fragile even before the 2005 closure of Ellington Colliery, the last deep pit in the North East, and Alcan’s Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter seven years later. Although Blyth is being developed as a hub for the renewable energy sector, with major inward investment taking place, Northumberland County Council (NCC) says that there are around half as many jobs locally as there are people of working age, meaning that many need to travel further afield for employment.