Alnmouth railway station

Alnmouth Alnmouth for Alnwick
Location	Alnmouth, Northumberland England
Coordinates	55°23′34″N 1°38′12″W / 55.3927930°N 1.6367716°W / 55.3927930; -1.6367716Coordinates: 55°23′34″N 1°38′12″W / 55.3927930°N 1.6367716°W / 55.3927930; -1.6367716
Grid reference	NU230110
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	Northern Trains
Platforms	2
Tracks	2
Other information
Station code	ALM
Classification	DfT category E
History
Original company	York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway British Rail (North Eastern Region)
Key dates
1 July 1847	Opened as Bilton
2 May 1892	Renamed Alnmouth
23 May 2003	Renamed Alnmouth for Alnwick
Passengers
2015/16	0.294 million
2016/17	0.312 million
2017/18	0.340 million
2018/19	0.345 million
2019/20	0.345 million
Interchange	313
Location
Alnmouth Location in Northumberland, England
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Alnmouth (also known as Alnmouth for Alnwick) is a railway station on the East Coast Main Line, which runs between London King's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley. The station, situated 34 miles 69 chains (56 km) north of Newcastle, serves the village of Alnmouth and neighbouring market town of Alnwick in Northumberland, England. It is owned by Network Rail and managed by Northern Trains.

History[]

The station was opened on 1 July 1847 as Bilton by the Newcastle and Berwick Railway^[1][2] and from 1854 run by the North Eastern Railway. On 19 August 1850 it became the junction for the Alnwick branch line and was significantly upgraded by the NER in 1887–88.^[3] On 2 May 1892 the station's name was changed to Alnmouth.^[1][4]

It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the North Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The Alnwick branch service was withdrawn in January 1968, with freight traffic ending in October the same year. The station had an additional platform face on the 'down' (northbound) side for use by branch trains, but this lost its track in the early 1970s after the branch closed (along with the buildings on that side) and was removed altogether prior to the station being refurbished in 2004.^[5] The main building on the southbound platform is not original - it was erected in 1987 to replace the original structures constructed when the Alnwick branch opened in 1850.

When Sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by the Intercity Sector until the privatisation of British Rail.^{[citation needed]}

Facilities[]

Station buildings

The station is staffed, with the ticket office on platform 1 manned each day (06:40-18:15 Mon-Sat, 10:20-21:30 Sundays). A self-service ticket machine is also provided (this can be used to collect pre-paid tickets as well as for use when the booking office is closed). There is a waiting shelter and help point on platform 2 as well as a waiting room, vending machine and toilets on platform 1. Level access is available to both platforms via lifts in the footbridge. Train running information is offered via automated announcements, digital displays and timetable posters.^[6]

Services[]

hide v t London North Eastern Railway
Legend
Glasgow Central Motherwell Inverness Aviemore Kingussie Pitlochry Perth Gleneagles Stirling Falkirk Grahamston Aberdeen Stonehaven Montrose Arbroath Dundee Leuchars Kirkcaldy Inverkeithing Haymarket Edinburgh Waverley Dunbar Berwick-upon-Tweed Alnmouth for Alnwick Morpeth Sunderland Newcastle Durham Darlington Northallerton York Skipton Keighley Bradford Forster Square Shipley Hull Paragon Brough Selby Harrogate Horsforth Leeds Wakefield Westgate Doncaster Retford Lincoln Newark North Gate Grantham Peterborough Stevenage London King's Cross

hide Route 1
v
East Coast Main Line
Chathill Alnmouth for Alnwick Acklington Widdrington Pegswood Morpeth Cramlington Manors Newcastle MetroCentre
Most services extend to/from Carlisle.

Alnmouth station is managed by Northern Trains, even though the majority of its services are provided by other operators.

The majority of services are provided by CrossCountry trains running between Newcastle and Edinburgh. London North Eastern Railway services calling here were reduced in the May 2011 timetable change so that they are less frequent. However, these services are every two hours during the day for both Newcastle/London and Edinburgh. With CrossCountry also calling every second hour, the net frequency provided is approximately hourly each way.^[7]

Occasional Northern Trains local services operating to and from Chathill also call here - currently these consist of one morning and one evening train in each direction (except Sundays). Both southbound trains continue south of Newcastle, the morning one to Prudhoe and the evening equivalent to Carlisle.^[8] The evening northbound train also starts back from the MetroCentre.

From December 2019, one northbound and two southbound TransPennine Express services began to call at Alnmouth.^[9] In September 2021, the operator announced that they would be introducing a five return trains per weekday semi-fast service between Newcastle and Edinburgh from December 2021, which will mostly call at Alnmouth.^[10]

The Aln Valley heritage railway has long-term ambitions of extending its running line to Alnmouth station^[11] from its current terminus at .

References[]

Sources[]

• Body, G. (1989). PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2: Northern operating area (1st ed.). Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0072-1. OCLC 59892452.

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.

External links[]

• Media related to Alnmouth railway station at Wikimedia Commons
• Train times and station information for Alnmouth railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Morpeth		CrossCountry Cross Country Network		Berwick-upon-Tweed
		London North Eastern Railway East Coast Main Line
Acklington		Northern Trains East Coast Main Line		Chathill
Morpeth		TransPennine Express North TransPennine Limited service		Berwick-upon-Tweed
	Historical railways
Warkworth Line open; station closed		York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway		Lesbury Line open; station closed
Terminus		North Eastern Railway Alnwick branch line		Alnwick Line and station closed