Wansbeck Railway

Introduction

This line is closed. Initially planned as a landowners line connecting estates in the valley of the River Wansbeck it was to become involved in the North British Railway and its plans to reach Newcastle via he Blyth and Tyne Railway.






Dates

  /  /1859Wansbeck Railway
Act receives Royal assent
  /  /1862Wansbeck Railway
Line opened from Morpeth to Scot's Gap. The Blyth and Tyne Railway's Morpeth [BT] station was used. This terminus was approached by first crossing over the Newcastle and Berwick Railway and then joining the Morpeth Branch (Blyth and Tyne Railway) at an east facing junction, trains then reversed into the terminus.
  /  /1863Wansbeck RailwayNorth British Railway
Wansbeck Railway absorbed by North British Railway.
  /  /1864Wansbeck Railway
Extended from Scot's Gap to Knowe's Gate.
  /  /1865Wansbeck Railway
Extended from Knowe's Gate to Reedsmouth (Border Counties Railway).
  /  /1870Northumberland Central Railway
Line opened from Scot's Gap (Wansbeck Railway) to Rothbury.
  /  /1871Wansbeck RailwayNewcastle and Berwick Railway
Curve (authorised in original Wansbeck Railway Act) put in to allow North British Railway trains to run into the main Morpeth station in either 1871 or 1872. The two companies built the curve towards each other, meeting in the middle. With this opening, the Wansbeck Railway trains stopped using the Morpeth Branch (Blyth and Tyne Railway)'s terminus.
  /  /1872Wansbeck Railway
Approach to Morpeth (Blyth and Tyne) closed on opening of connection to Morpeth (North Eastern).
  /  /1903Wansbeck Railway
Scot's Gap renamed Scotsgap.
  /  /1908Wansbeck Railway
Knowe's Gate renamed Knowesgate.
  /  /1952Wansbeck Railway
Closed to passengers.
  /  /1963Wansbeck Railway
Closed from Reedsmouth to Woodburn (excluded).
  /  /1965Portpatrick Railway
Troop trains run over line (Stranraer Harbour - Woodburn (Wansbeck Railway)) for Northern Ireland.
  /  /1966Wansbeck Railway
Closed from Woodburn to Morpeth (excluded).

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Morpeth to Reedsmouth

This 1998 view looks west at where the curve from Hepscott Junction (behind the camera) doubles before it reaches Barmoor Sidings and Morpeth ...
Ewan Crawford //1998
1 of 1 images.




This was a single platform station. Meldon, a small settlement, is a third of a mile to the north. The platform was on the north side of the line, with a two storey stone built station building.
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The former station at Meldon on 8 November 2007, looking east along the Wansbeck line towards Morpeth. ...
John Furnevel 08/11/2007
The old Wansbeck Valley station at Meldon, Northumberland, closed to passengers in September 1952. View looking east over the site towards Morpeth in ...
Ewan Crawford //1998
An eastbound freight headed by North Blyth J27 0-6-0 no 65834 trundles east through Meldon (closed to passengers in 1952) on the Wansbeck Valley line ...
Robin Barbour Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //
4 of 5 images. more


This was a single platform station with a passing loop. The passenger platform was on the north side of the loop and loading banks on the south side. There was a two storey stone built station building and a level crossing at the west end. The loop extended westwards across the level crossing. A short siding off the loop, approached from the east, served a loading bank at the west end of the ...

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The former level crossing and station at Angerton in a view looking north in 1998. The gateposts of the entry to the former goods yard are to the ...
Ewan Crawford //1998
View along the site of the old platform at the much modified Angerton station, on the Wansbeck Valley line, Northumberland. Looking east towards ...
John Furnevel 08/11/2007
2 of 2 images.




This was a single platform station with a loop. The platform and station building were on the north side of the line. The platform was stone and the station building was a small timber and wood building, not typical of the line but a North British Railway type such as that at Ewesley. Opposite on the south side was a loading bank. The London and North Eastern Railway took out the west ...

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Looking west to the site of Middleton North station in 1998. Originally the station was behind the camera. ...
Ewan Crawford //1998
1 of 1 images.


This was the junction between the line from Morpeth (to the east) to Reedsmouth Junction (to the west) and the branch to Rothbury (to the north). It was a single platform station with a goods yard on its north side, a series of looped sidings (two loops and two dead end sidings). The passenger platform was on the south side with a partly single storey and two storey stone built station ...

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See also
Northumberland Central Railway
Scotsgap station seen from the station approach. The platform was to the left. ...
Mike Shannon /05/2002
Scotsgap station in 2002 in a view looking to Morpeth. ...
Mike Shannon /05/2002
View south east over the former Scotsgap station on 22 May 2004. The station closed to passengers in 1952 with the line closing completely in 1966. ...
John Furnevel 22/05/2004
Scotsgap station seen in summer 2015 see image 53066. The building has been extended, the Rover has been replaced by a Golf - but history will out ...
Ken Strachan 10/07/2015
4 of 12 images. more






This was a two platform station, one passenger and one for goods. The passenger platform was on the south side of the station's loop with the goods platform, equipped with a crane, on the north side. The station building, stone built and of one storey, was on the passenger platform. The signal box was at the east end, just beyond a minor road overbridge.
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The former station at Knowesgate, Northumberland, in November 2007 looking north towards the platform Entrance. The station lay between Reedsmouth and ...
John Furnevel 08/11/2007
Standing on the former level crossing at Knowesgate on the Wansbeck line on 8 November 2007 looking east through the old station (closed 1952) towards ...
John Furnevel 08/11/2007
2 of 2 images.




This was the summit of the Wansbeck Railway, a remote spot between Woodburn and Knowesgate. On the north side of the line was a railway cottage, divided into two houses.
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This was a single platform station, platform on the north/west side of the line, with a goods loop. The main station building, a single storey, was on the platform with a signal box (1893)closer to Morpeth. The goods yard was on the north side of the line, approached from the east, and with a loop.
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See also
Catcleugh Reservoir Railway
Road approach to the former station at Woodburn, Northumberland, on a pleasant autumn afternoon in November 2007. View is south with the A68 running ...
John Furnevel 07/11/2007
Woodburn ...
Clive Barlow 25/05/2006
Woodburn station looking east in 1997. Since taken the former station has had a bit of a revival. A temporary line was built north from here to ...
Ewan Crawford /11/1997
Ivatt 2-6-0 no 43063 running round the 11 coach 'Wansbeck Piper' at Woodburn on 2 October 1966. The train, which ran from Newcastle Central via ...
Robin Barbour Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) 02/10/1966
4 of 9 images. more






Also known as Reedsmouth Junction, this was a three platform junction station to the east of Redesmouth House. The small village of Redesmouth, largely railway cottages, developed by the station. The station was just east of the confluence of the River Rede and the River North Tyne.
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See also
Border Counties Railway
Reedsmouth in May 2002, looking north from the trackbed towards the converted signal box that stands on the platforms. ...
Mike Shannon /05/2002
Scene at Reedsmouth in November 2007, more than half a century after closure. View is north along the Border Counties route to Riccarton Junction, ...
John Furnevel 05/11/2007
The former Wansbeck platform at Reedsmouth Junction in 2002. The station building and former signalbox have become housing.
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Mike Shannon /05/2002
The converted station building still standing on the platform at Reedsmouth, seen here on 5 November 2007 looking northeast from the trackbed of the ...
John Furnevel 05/11/2007
4 of 22 images. more





Ridsdale Branch