East Coast Main Line Freight Branch

[gbzraj]

Back in about 1988 I had an Ordnance Survey Road Map of Great Britain. I got rid of it years ago but have a distinct memory of a freight branch leaving the East Cost main line either in Northumberland or Berwickshire and running due west for I think about 10 miles. I can't find lines that seems to tie up with my memory. Anyone any idea what this line would have been? I think most of the lines that might have fitted this had been lifted many years before. Perhaps my memory is deceiving me?

 

[rail-britain]

I travelled between Newcastle and Edinburgh a few times in the mid to late 1980s, and I don't remember any branch lines to the west between Newcastle and Dunbar, and there definitely weren't any by the time I was working this section of line by 1991

The only thing it may be is the Aln Valley, which leaves just after Alnmouth, closed in 1968 and Cornhill Branch

 

[Railsigns]

It could have been the line to Whittle coal mine, at Newton-on-the-Moor.

 

[Scotrail84]

Am i way off in thinking the line to consett might be what the op is referring too??

 

[142094]

Am i way off in thinking the line to consett might be what the op is referring too??

Consett is in County Durham, bit too far south.

Only lines I can think of would have been lifted in the 60s, although Whittle closed in 1997 is probably the best bet.

 

[DarloRich]

Blyth & Tyne route?

 

[rail-britain]

It could have been the line to Whittle coal mine, at Newton-on-the-Moor.

That's due east, not west

 

[richa2002]

Not the Wensleydale line a bit further south at Northallerton was it?

 

[Scotrail84]

Consett is in County Durham, bit too far south.

Only lines I can think of would have been lifted in the 60s, although Whittle closed in 1997 is probably the best bet.

I only mentioned the consett Line as it ran 10-12 miles inland, I did think it was maybe a bit too far south.

 

[Scotrail84]

Not the Wensleydale line a bit further south at Northallerton was it?

The line that went all the way to redmire?

 

[Railsigns]

That's due east, not west

No it isn't.

 

[OxtedL]

It could have been the line to Whittle coal mine, at Newton-on-the-Moor.

http://binged.it/PttmRf for those who are differently geographical.

 

[142094]

Blyth and Tyne leaves the ECML at Benton Junction and travels east, before going north. There are a couple of links to it north of Morpeth, but it is definitely on the east side of the ECML.

As for Wensleydale, again that is much further south.

 

[gbzraj]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think the line is most likely to have been the Whittle coal mine at Newton on the moor. Does anyone know when this line would have been lifted and when it went out of use?

 

[142094]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I think the line is most likely to have been the Whittle coal mine at Newton on the moor. Does anyone know when this line would have been lifted and when it went out of use?

The colliery closed in 1997, although I'm not sure if the rail line was removed around the same time. A few years back it was sold for quite a lot of money, and the area still has a good deal of coal sitting underground. No plans to reopen either the colliery or the line unfortunately.

 

[reb0118]

Just checked my copy of OS Sheet 81 Alnwick & Rothbury from 1984. It shews the branch in situ as a freight line. However it is not shewn on my 1988 copy of the "Baker" Rail Atlas.

 

[Sir_Clagalot]

there is also this http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=55.371576,-1.622114&spn=0.009486,0.01929&t=h&z=16 which looks ex railway, just before the loops at Alnmouth...

 

[SussexMan]

there is also this http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=55.371576,-1.622114&spn=0.009486,0.01929&t=h&z=16 which looks ex railway, just before the loops at Alnmouth...

Here it is from an older map. Nothing like ten miles long though.

...and more detail here