Proposal to re-open the Alnwick branch

[60041]

After many years of hard work, and quite a few setbacks, the Aln Valley Railway Trust have finally submitted their planning application to Northumberland County Council to re-open the first section of the Alnwick to Alnmouth branch line.
This first stage is for a section of line running from the outskirts of Alnwick to Greenrigg, a distance of about 1.25 miles. Once this section is up and running, the next mile from Greenrigg to Alnmouth will be tackled.

The AVR would greatly appreciate any letters of support. The application can be viewed in detail by using the following link:
http://anplanning.northumberland.gov.uk ... PKID=37234

and any comments can be left on that site. The stated date for submissions has passed, but the council have indicated that letters of support received after that date will be considered.

[52D]

My message of support for this venture has gone to the local council.

[60041]

My message of support for this venture has gone to the local council.

Thanks D

[60041]

Found tonight on the BBC website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/tyne/hi/peo ... 777285.stm

[60041]

Northumberland County Council (North Area) planning committee unanimously passed the plans tonight.
Many thanks to all those forum members who have sent us messages of support.
Now all we need is a couple of miles of track and lots of money!

[52D]

Congrats WS just got the news off Dave Shell and was posting before you got in.

[Autocar Publicity]

That's good news.

Perhaps you could post a link to the Trust's web-site on this thread?

[60041]

Society's website here:http://alnvalleyrailway.co.uk
It may be a day or so before the news gets onto it, I suspect that most of the committee are in the pub!

[PinzaC55]

Although it's nice to see any railway reopened I think that without Alnwick station this is of marginal interest.Far better to find a stretch of scenic trackbed and restore that.Whittingham anyone?

[BlythStationLad]

It's a shame it's now impossible to get to Alnwick station by train, but to use the term 'marginal interest' is surely an insult to the hard work that alot of people have put in to get this far????

I'm not connected with the Aln Valley railway in any way. There's a clear opportunity for the tourist side to develop. Alnmouth station was renamed 'Alnmouth for Alnwick' a few years ago to help promote green tourism using the ECML and connecting bus services. Alnwick has a major car parking problem in summer and the town's layout is not good for cars. What with Alnwick Castle, Barter Books, the towns of Alnwick and Alnmouth themselves and the beach, there's plenty of potential.

Rebuilding a stretch of the branch to just short of the A1 is great news as long as there will be good links for the final 3/4 of a mile into the town.

As for Whittingham, this has been private land for many years - as such it's probably the reason why so much infrastructure of the station remains, albiet in a decrepid, neglected, state. That is probably also why no-one has shown an interest in doing anything about it.

[PinzaC55]

It's a shame it's now impossible to get to Alnwick station by train, but to use the term 'marginal interest' is surely an insult to the hard work that alot of people have put in to get this far????

I'm not connected with the Aln Valley railway in any way. There's a clear opportunity for the tourist side to develop. Alnmouth station was renamed 'Alnmouth for Alnwick' a few years ago to help promote green tourism using the ECML and connecting bus services. Alnwick has a major car parking problem in summer and the town's layout is not good for cars. What with Alnwick Castle, Barter Books, the towns of Alnwick and Alnmouth themselves and the beach, there's plenty of potential.

Rebuilding a stretch of the branch to just short of the A1 is great news as long as there will be good links for the final 3/4 of a mile into the town.

As for Whittingham, this has been private land for many years - as such it's probably the reason why so much infrastructure of the station remains, albiet in a decrepid, neglected, state. That is probably also why no-one has shown an interest in doing anything about it.

Saying it's of marginal interest isn't an insult to the hard work involved, it's simply my own personal opinion.The full extent of the line will be only 2 miles and it will be cut off from Alnwick station (I fully understand why and realise there is little way round them in the current economic climate). At the south end it MAY be possible to get into Alnmouth station but I fail to see how Network Rail would ever allow a facing connection to the ECML to allow for the obvious goal of through running from the south, quite apart from the fact that the ECML is saturated with traffic.
Whittingham is just an example but if you were to work out the full cost of a new Alnwick station and translate that into buying a disused station in good condition (Mindrum is on the market) and relaying the track, which would be more cost effective?
I'm a member of the Yorkshire Wolds Railway, who wish to reopen part of the Malton & Driffield Railway; we have come under attack from various sources, mainly a preserved railway north of Malton but it doesn't matter as our aims are carefully considered and practical.

[60041]

Although it's nice to see any railway reopened I think that without Alnwick station this is of marginal interest.Far better to find a stretch of scenic trackbed and restore that.Whittingham anyone?

There was a serious proposal to try for a section of the Cornhill branch in the early 90's, but this soon foundered when it was realised that there were 24 separate landowners between Alnwick and Whittingham, all of whom would have demanded their pound of flesh . In addition to this, the then owner of Whittingham Station absolutely refused to even consider selling any part of it, in fact he wouldn't even allow anyone onto the site to allow a photographic survey to be done.
Whittingham has now been sold, and I know of at least one railway enthusiast who was thinking of buying it, but he realised that he faced the same problems ie that the landowners on each side would be unlikely to cooperate. There would have been similar problems at all the other stations on the line. One then AVRS member even owned 3 stations on the line but then found that linking them up would not be possible. It was a shame, as a reopened section of the Cornhill branch would have been one of most scenic lines in the whole of Britain.
The advantage of the Alnwick branch was that the whole trackbed , with the exception of the last 200 yards, belonged to one man and he was quite happy to negotiate a lease. When the project was first launched, it was believed that access to Alnwick station would have been possible, in fact the owners of the station were very supportive of the project, but it eventually proved impractical to get across the two major roads that lie between the original station and the proposed terminus. The proposed layout of the new station has been designed to allow for a future extension towards Alnwick but this is very much a long term aspiration as it will require millions of pounds to achieve.
The current plans for the Alnwick branch are for an initial section from the outskirts of the town as far as Greenrigg, where an overbridge prevents further progress until a T&W order is granted. Once this has been obtained, the line will be rebuilt as far as Alnmouth station, where a cross platform interchange will be available with the main line trains. In theory it would be possible to get a connection with the down loop at Alnmouth which would solve the problem of having a connection to the high speed lines, but again this would be expensive, and remains an aspiration for the future.

[PinzaC55]

As a matter of interest what is the total estimated cost of - New Alnwick station, associated new line and earthworks and associated roadworks required? Ballpark figure?

[StoneRoad]

Well, I wish the AVR all the best for their project.

Now they have the planning app sorted, next will be the lease? and then they can get down to the real work of relaying some track......and getting stock / motive power sorted....and.. and..

StoneRoad

[60041]

As a matter of interest what is the total estimated cost of - New Alnwick station, associated new line and earthworks and associated roadworks required? Ballpark figure?

(Very) rough costing are;
Initial development of station site and associated roadworks: £145,000.
Construction of line to bridge 6: £260,000
Construction of line to Greenrigg: £366,000