Notes: Alston station was 13 miles 12ch from Haltwhistle. The layout comprised a single 106yd passenger platform east of the running line, a carriage siding to the west, and several sidings either side of the platform. Unusually the southern end of the platform had steps, rather than a ramp. At the terminus a turntable was provided, but was disused by 1951.The station building (Grade II listed) is an imposing Tudoresque structure of the East Coast main line type, with random stone courses instead of the more urbane ashlar, mullioned windows, moulded door and window hoods, ball finials, and lofty coupled chimney stacks. Unfortunately its appearance was marred by the rendering of three sides. In 1904-5 a single-storey extension was added.

A trainshed was supported by the station building, and covered the platform and two tracks.  Its west side was joined to the engine shed (opened 17th November 1952), a smith’s shop, and a water tower. The trainshed roof was originally curved but was extended and rebuilt with a mansard profile in 1872-3. Wooden end screens on the trainshed continued to the platform

Although removal of the trainshed and sidings left the station somewhat bleak, it retained some delightful fixtures at closure: the LNER nameboard, gas lamps, and an original North Eastern Railway enamel Way Out sign. After closure the site, stripped of its tracks, was forlorn, but restoration of the building and the introduction of narrow-gauge trains have revitalised Alston station. It is a delightful place to visit!   

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ALSTON BRANCH
Haltwhistle-Alston was the last surviving passenger branch line in rural North East England. Its longevity reflected the inadequacy of local roads in winter weather, rather than economic health: ‘the creaking gate hangs longest’ aptly describes a line that lasted until 1976.

The branch required substantial earthworks and structures. There were no watersheds to cross, nor tunnels to bore, but the 13-mile route climbed from 405ft to 905ft above sea level and involved three crossings of the South Tyne and viaducts over tributaries. Most structures were designed for double track and sturdily built of sandstone. Lambley (Grade

The gradient was almost continually uphill from Haltwhistle, including 1 in 70 for 1½ miles between Plenmeller and Featherstone Park; and 1 in 56, the steepest stretch, for a mile near Barhaugh, between Slaggyford and Alston. A mile-long cutting was needed between Haltwhistle and Featherstone Park.

No sooner had the branch been completed that lead mining began a rapid and continuous decline. Depopulation accompanied this recession; the population in Alston, Garrigill, and Nenthead peaked at 6,815 in 1851 and fell almost continuously to only 1,909 in 1971. Some cheer was brought by limited development of coal and zinc mining.

In the late 1850s two weekday return passenger trains called at all stations. By 1863 there were three. Trains took a leisurely 40 minutes in each direction. The 1910 service increased to four, with an extra Saturday evening return trip, and a five-minute faster journey. Whilst Alston’s ‘twin’ branch to Allendale closed to passengers in 1930, Alston still had its 1910 frequency. In summer 1946 Alston enjoyed eight weekday return trains, the first departure at 5.41 am, but by summer 1954 there were seven on Saturdays and only five on weekdays.

Since the early days, the first advertised service of the day left Alston, where the branch locomotive was stabled. This practice continued until November 1959 when a 6:30 am departure from Haltwhistle was introduced, running non-stop (another novelty!) to Alston in thirty minutes, to form the 7:05 am departure (all stops) to Haltwhistle. British Rail censuses in 1970 found no passengers using the first Haltwhistle-Alston train of the day. By its final timetable there were six weekday and seven Saturday returns, taking 34 minutes from Haltwhistle to Alston, and 32 back to Haltwhistle.

Jenkins (The Alston Branch, 1991) assumes that motive power was provided in the mid-19th Century by former main line engines. Towards the end of that century Fletcher BTP 0-4-4Ts (classified as G6 by the LNER) were used, though in the NER period Worsdell Class A 2-4-2 Passenger Tanks were also employed. At first one engine was based at Alston. By

Towards closure - and beyond
The Alston Branch outlived many lines whose passenger carrying potential was greater. Blyth and Ashington, towns of some 30,000 people, lost their service in 1964; Featherstone Park, serving several hundred, survived until 1976.

By 1968 the pace of closures had slackened, and a ‘basic network’ of railways to be retained for passenger and freight in Britain was published. Alston was not included. Under Section 39 of the 1968 Transport Act the branch received a grant of £43,000 for 1969, but the Minister of Transport warned that aid could not be justified for more than two years. In

In its last months Alston was, belatedly, publicised by British Rail, who extolled the charms of the line, and offered trips by scheduled services from London. A ‘circular’ bargain-fare was available from King’s Cross and Euston, via Carlisle or Newcastle, to Alston. On the last day of service, Saturday 1 May 1976, some 5,000 passengers travelled on scheduled services on the branch, with yet more on special trains. The final train left Alston at 21:09 to the accompaniment of a lament played by two pipers, and the thunder of detonators. On 3 May 1976 rail services officially ended.

In January 1977 South Tynedale communities were isolated; roads were blocked by snow. This time the railway could not come to the rescue. The STRPS was committed to keeping the line in operation, but could not afford the purchase price of £160,000 asked by British Rail. BR would not permit the society operate trains on the branch to help raise money to buy the line. Track dismantling began in winter 1976-77. In March 1977 STRPS had the option to buy the last 1½ miles of track, from Gilderdale to Alston, for £40,800. Once again the price proved too high. Demolition continued, and all rails were lifted by June 1977.

Happily, this is not the end of the story. Cumbria County Council bought Alston station and the Cumbrian section of trackbed in 1979, enabling the station to be used as a tourist information centre. In 1983 the STRPS opened a 2ft gauge tourist railway at Alston, its trains hauled by Phoenix, a forty year-old 4-wheeled Hibberd 40hp diesel locomotive. The line was

Stations Available evidence suggests that the architect of the Alston branch stations was Benjamin Green, who also designed a series of handsome stations between Newcastle and Berwick, such as the surviving Acklington, Warkworth and Chathill (to which Alston station bears a strong resemblance). The intermediate

Although all of the intermediate stations were de-staffed by 1967, none of them had Halt added to their name, even though the suffix was applied widely by British Rail until 1968-9. The North Eastern did not share other BR regions’ enthusiasm for the suffix: there were only five official public Halts in the Region. However the four intermediates were so named in an

Sources:

• The Alston branch by Stanley C Jenkins (Pub: Oakwood Press 1991 revised 2001)
• Railways in Northumberland by Alan Young (Pub: Martin Bairstow 2003) from which this article is adapted
  
• A history of North Eastern Railway architecture, Vol. 1: The Pioneers by Bill Fawcett (Pub: North Eastern Railway Association 2001)
• The railways of Northumberland and Newcastle upon Tyne by J A Wells (Pub: Powdene Publicity 1998)
• Private and untimetabled stations by Godfrey Croughton, R W Kidner and Alan Young (Pub: Oakwood Press 1982)
• Britain’s historic railway buildings by Gordon Biddle (Pub: Oxford University Press 2003)
• Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales: a chronology by M E Quick (Pub: Railway & Canal Historical Society 2002, Supplement 2003)
• Register of closed passenger stations and goods depots by C R Clinker (Pub: Avon-Anglia 1978)
  

Further reading: Eastern Main Lines - Hexham to Carlisle including the Alston and Brampton Branches by Roger Darsley. (Pub: Middleton Press 2006). See also South Tynedale Railway web site.

Tickets from Michael Stewart & from Tillyweb web site (STR tickets), route map drawn by Alan Young, timetable from John Bainbridge

To see other stations on the Alston branch click on the station name:
Haltwhistle, Plenmeller Halt, Park Village, Featherstone Park, Coanwood, Lambley, Burnstones, Slaggyford, Kirkhaugh (STRPS) &
Gilderdale Halt (STRPS)