The Northumberland Line is Reopening
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- Опубліковано 2 чер 2024
- The reopening of the Northumberland Line between Newcastle, through Northumberland Park up to Ashington is opened again, after it closed in 1964, and six new stations are being built.
Mark Ellis from the Northumberland County Council invited me up to ride on one of the test trains on line ( taking place for driver training ) and get a close up look at Newsham - one of the new stations, that is currently under construction.
More information:
On the Northumberland County Council Website - www.northumberlandline.uk/
And the Network Rail website - www.networkrail.co.uk/running...
It's a shame about Northumberland Park because otherwise the stations would be named in alphabetical order from north to south
There’s still time to rename it - can we get a campaign going??
And while bc we're at it, Byfleet and New Haw needs to start with a W.
Znorthumberland Park anyone?
@@mikewood7571Northumberland park has been around for years on the Tyne and Wear metro
(Ignoring Manors and Newcastle)
As a soft southerner, I'm really happy to see new infrastructure projects like this opening in the north.
As a soft southerner who has lived on Tyneside for thirty years, I am even happier. I just hope the Metro doesn't collapse before the class 555s finally enter service ... Stadler and Nexus are doing their best, but the 399s are completely knackered.
It's definitely good news. I'm just left thinking, 2 tph!? Not fully dualled, no electric, existing station not being upgraded to step free.... If this was London I am sure it would all be very different. Though tbf East West Rail isn't being electrified either.
@@alanlittle4589 This happened because Levelling Up funding needed to build it required results within a certain timeframe. It was meant to be a metro extension. I am so sad to see that this country is still stupid enough to not even bother electrifying new commuter rail...
@@APAG Thank you 👍
@@alanlittle4589The south is nowadays getting as littile invenesnt as the north. So many stations in SE London are super dingy, no ticket offices open anywhere and there’s been reductions in service.
I'm always encouraged that 60 years after Beeching, things are slowly being reinstated. Maybe theres hope for public transport. Its like rewatching the Victorian era in slow-mo. Thanks Geoff.
They probably build the original line in far less time than this rebuild. But probably killed and injured many workers while doing so.
@@llynllydaw The construction of the three stations that will be opened later has been delayed because of large holes underground left by old unmapped mine workings.
@@llynllydawindeed we seem to do things much slower (and much pricier these days). One of the gifts of hindsight is knowing it would have been better to have kept most of those axed lines.
Too little too late though. Why does it take so long? And why the single-track sections; have they learned nothing from the Waverley reopening?
@@joshuatk59 We definitely knew back then that it would be better to keep those lines, Marples was just a crook who wanted to improve the prospects of his roadbuilding company and Beeching his very eager lackey.
I was sat in Costa inside the Newcastle station, when you shot this video. Although I didn't recognize you from a distance, I remember seeing a 158 at Platform 1 with no timetable on the monitor and a lot of staff in orange hi vis, with a few more being dropped off from a passing Diesel train with the Colas Rail Livery, forgotten the class it was. Just feels surreal to now know what the train that peaked my interest was for and that you were on it. I hope you enjoyed your visit up north during your down time when not recording :)
Ha ha! You should have said “hello!” 😊
@@geofftech2Haha he didn't say hello because he didn't recognise you. As he said in his post. Haha
@@geofftech2i was in the metro stairs walking up
I’m so excited for this line to reopen. It takes an hour on the bus to get from blyth to Newcastle plus a good 10 minute walk to central. This is gonna save SO MUCH TIME!!!
And they are express buses.
Quite right ... let's hope though that you are somewhere near one of the 3 stations that will actually reopen (not including Blyth Bebside)
Same
I live there
It’s gonna cut my journey to Sunderland from 90 minutes on the metro to only 20 or 30 minutes
I've lived near London since the early eighties, but grew up very close to Palmersville Metro, which you would have passed as the Metro station before Northumberland Park. I also spent a lot of time in Ashington and Blyth. The Northumberland line solves a few problems that have plagued the area since the closure of the extensive coalfield. In preparation for the pit closures, it seemed that the authorities were preparing for a very road based future and constructed a network, fanning out from the Tyne Tunnel, to fuel a massive industrial development of the area after the pits closed. They had some success with the new town of Cramlington and maybe the port of Blyth, but the area stagnated. What seems to have happened, however, is that the people in what is basically South-East Northumberland, used the road networks to find work on Tyneside. The morning and evening traffic can become crazy. So finally, they've built the commuter railway that should have been built at least thirty years ago!
The integration with the Metro fare system is exciting to me, it makes me wonder if Metro tickets and Pop cards can be rolled out to places like Hexham, Durham, Chester, Seaham and Horden under the framework of the new North East combined authority.
That be fantastic
Hopefully and hopefully better connectivity between the areas, build the Washington extension and expand the metro further
New mayor governs over all of County Durham and Northumberland now too so that’s a new possibility
Great to see you venturing up north Geoff. I hope you will also support and observe the leamside line and Washington loop openings.
agreed - there are always rumours of these lines coming back - it would be a great improvement.
Washington loop is needed and can be realised as part of the Metro but the remainder of Leamside south of Penshaw? No chance.
The opportunity to save this line was missed in 2003 and it’s now so badly degraded it would probably exceed the cost of a new build. In any case the Durham Coast Line has been incrementally upgraded with new track and signalling creating extra capacity for any freight traffic that would have used Leamside. Passenger wise there isn’t the population density south of Washington to justify it.
Although I live in Hebburn i do believe Washington should have a metro connection, although the debate is they have a regular bus service.
Love seeing more stations being built/rebuilt/reopened.
That 158 still looks fresh, clean, and modern for a train that's over 30 years old! Still a good train!
Great to see the North East getting some ❤️.
Hopefully, more rail infrastructure projects to come!.
yep the 158 are a lot better than class 142 we had to put up with for so long but hopefully we get some new stock in next few years
About time, the Tyne and Wear county really needs more stations
Ezacky
They’re all in Northumberland though, except for Northumberland Park…
It's literally called the Northumberland line! The vast majority isn't in Tyne and Wear.
The metropolitan county of Tyne & Wear was established in 1974, but disestablished in 1994, 30 years ago.
@ashleyhoward8926 Actually, that's not true. Tyne & Wear is still a ceremonial county and never has been a metropolitan county
Just got home, new Geoff video to watch whilst eating dinner. Perfection
Omg same lol
What are you eating?
@@RandomTFLupdates-PEPS_FOR_LIFEshhh
yes, what are you having for dinner? 😅
Enjoy your food :D
its really great we are seeing old lines being reopened, long may this continue.
It is going to be a very popular line with cyclists in Newcastle and North Tyneside - it will be much easier to reach the coastal route going north from Druridge Bay. But the main benefit will be for commuters and students in Ashington (apart from Newcastle's two universities, both Gateshead College and Newcastle College are a short walk from the Metro). There is a fairly frequent bus service from Ashington to Newcastle but it takes twice as long as the train even if it is not held up by the morning traffic jams in Gosforth High Street.
With a name like mine, I'm going to have to visit Newsham some day!
It's one of the roughest places in Blyth and that takes some doing. Just check the station is complete because I live next to the line, pass it daily and all the workmen do is mostly sit in their vans and stand around dong nothing, I am not joking.
Ahhh so this is what being built near Blyth Town FC, i see now! This is a good thing
Great video of my 'homeland'. This is great news for the locals, used to live in Delaval in the 80s, and as a short cut used to walk the line between Delaval, New Hartley and Newsham as so few trains used the line. I visit many times each year to visit family and friends, surprised that it's not the Metro like. Look forward to using it many thanks Geoff 👍
Probably didn't want the additional infrastructure cost of electrifying the line as the Metro is electric when they can just use diesel powered units.
Always great to hear about line reopenings, hopefully there'll be more stories like this one in the future!
as a resident of ashington, this line is so needed and i cannot wait!
Good to see a line, probably much needed, re-opening after 60yrs after Beeching's axe. If the lovely semaphore signals are being replaced, I hope they are given to a heritage line and not just destroyed.
Great to see some new lines opening across the country. Work is getting along well!
Just had an interview today for a guard position with northern to be based out of NCL. If I’m successful it would be good to think I’d possibly be working the first revenue earning service that you’ll be itching to be on or when you’re doing one of your ‘visit every station’ vids when the staggered opening of the remaining three takes place! Always great to see new projects in my part of the world, hopefully the leamside line next…. 🤞🏻
Very special video for me Geoff, when i first discovered your videos way back in 2013 i lived in Blyth, had done all my life and lived a stone’s throw from what is to be Newsham’s Station that you visited when i was a kid. I now live in North Yorkshire and am still very fond of home, and also fond of trains so seeing the line reopening is special, and having you visit it is too. What is most special is that this line coming back was spoken about, campaigned for and promised for years and years and i think everyone locally had given up hope that it would ever actually happen, but it has which is amazing :) can’t wait to see you go back as the stations open Geoff, To The Trains :)
ah! thanks Craig ( how are you?) lovely comment -- thanks. and yes, it really is actually happening !!!
@@geofftech2 no problem Geoff, i’m good thanks are you? I feel spoiled at the moment, i am a bus enthusiast as well as a train one and all your bus content then this, have been a big hit with me :)
Great video, Geoff. I live in Northumberland so this will be great. Cannot wait.
Writing about this line in my dissertation, it really is great to see
Thank you, Geoff,. Nice to see we're aren't forgotten up here in the Frozen North!
So excited to see you cover this, we've just moved into a house a stone's throw away from the newsham station, the new infrastructure project was a big draw for us when we picked it out!
A very professional video, congratulations. It is inspiring to see redevelopment of railway infrastructure like this, particularly for someone like me who lived through the misery of the Beeching era onwards.
It's great to see a whole 'new' line opening and the fact that there has been some thought about the fares charged...! This should happen on more 'goods only' lines....
Wow.
I know that line through Ashington from when I stayed a few times with my Cousins, when they lived at Sandpiper Way on the Nursery Park Estate. Could actually see the line from their bedroom windows.
I thought it was Freight Only. Never knew it was a diversion route as I never saw any passenger services along there....there's absolutely ZERO trackside fencing, and you could walk along the tracks and over the nearby bridge across the River Wansbeck (if you were stupid enough!).
That bridge made the news several years ago, when a couple of local thugs threw a dog off it!
Thank you for this excellent video. Good to see the progress in the re-opening of the line to Ashington.
Geoff you'll have to come to Belfast to see the work on our two new stations. These are Belfast Grand Central (replacing Great Victoria Street) and York Street (replacing Yorkgate). The new Belfast GC has 7 platforms + 26 bus stands making it the largest station on the island of Ireland! I'm told Gt Victoria St closes in May and the new GC station opens in late August.
Amazing to see the trains back on the channel after the bus journeys! Great to see a new line coming in the north, about time 😅
Ahh the video I've been waiting for. A week or so ago an article about a new rail line popped up on my Bing homepage and it was about this line. The last section was about a quote from the UA-camr Geoff Marshall
Seaton Delaval sounds very French (as usual from an apparently local Norman family that came over from Laval in France...)
Was nice to see you Geoff all be it from my bedroom window as you passed over Choppington crossing!! Its a shame its taken so long and even more a shame that they have again relegated Bedlington to "opening at a later date" The council really dont like Bedlington..
They’re really dragging their heels at Bedlington Station.
Great to see a railway coming back to life. Pity about the frequency being so low.
I think the issue is capacity of the lines given that some sections are not twinned yet so it bottlenecks down to 1 line in places, if they get around to twinning the track along the length, there is no reason they could not increase the frequency.
Wonderful to see this line get its passenger trains back. Next, get the Leamside line reopened!
I don’t think it will happen. An opportunity was missed in 2003, the line has degraded badly so reconstruction costs excessive and the extra capacity it would create has been met by the Durham Coast upgrade.
Bedlington, where the first ever Dutch locomotive, De Arend, was made !
Geoff this is ACE . The latest redevelopment of British National Railways is full on now . I love this Geoff because the Bus Journey is long !!
Great video Geoff. You’ve made my day.
yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
i live in northumberland, happy to see the new line coming along :)
As a retired freight train driver that signed to Lynemouth, it’s very strange to see regeneration rather than decline! This area has seen so little in the last 40yrs! Great news!
I would absolutely love to meet you you are fantastic and your videos brighten my day
Perfect with a new video from Geoff. Watching it while being in a gym
Great to see the Northern 158 looking splendid.
Every time you do a video like this, you become more a journalist and less a UA-camr in my eyes. And that’s a meant in a good way.
Mike, taken in a good way, because it’s deliberate. Well spotted!! 😅 I am moving away from making UA-cam videos. And making more serious videos which I just happen to upload to UA-cam …..
Thank you for all your work Geoff in producing your transport vlogs, I find them very informative and interesting.
As I live in the area I will take a trip on the line when it's fully operational.
It's a shame it's a few years too late as I work in an office in Longbenton which is due to be closing in 2027 and moving to the centre of Newcastle.
Thanks Geoff..has been interesting to watch the line developing over the last year.
Great video Geoff featuring my area. I’m looking forward to the line being completed, as I’m in Bedlington, getting into the city usually takes around an hour or so by bus and of course great forward links to the ECML for onward travel.
Having seen the reopening of the Okehampton/Dartmoor line, it makes me so happy to see another old line reopening! And you mentioned at 1:05 that this line has been used for freight - I wonder if it's any coincidence that the Dartmoor Line was also being used for freight while it was closed for passengers? And the fact that the track and trackbed were all still in situ and being used for trains, even if the passenger services and stations were closed, were a deciding factor in their re-opening - i.e. not needing to completely start from scratch, clear the old trackbed and re-lay track all over again? Either way, this is lovely to see, and I'm excited to come visit at some point :)
Oh, and I hope the semaphores and cute little signal box at Bedlington North Junction have new homes to go to!
Great to see plenty of "maps" in this video.
Thank you for the video Geoff that was very interesting. ❤
Great to see this coming along nicely. Looking forward to trying it out and seeing more places north of Newcastle
I hope the line is extended through to Newbiggin again, an extra station at Seghill built and maybe some journeys continuing to the MetroCentre
Ezacky
Newbiggin link would really make it a route going up northbound for otherwise it's going to be pulling people south to Newcastle
This makes me feel very giddy to see as someone from the south. Though I'm unimpressed by trains running every half hour in each direction...
From Ashington there's 4 buses an hour to Newcastle, taking just over an hour to complete the journey if traffic conditions are good. Adding 2 trains an hour to that is a good thing.
Addition to the nexus pop area is a big win and will make travel a lot more attractive
Love the connection to the metro, so much easier to travel!
Great video Geoff, very informative! 😀
Nice to see Newsham box again. Waaaay back in time the lad who used to run our rail and bus trips to various depots around the country was a signalman at Newsham. Good to see another line reopening to passengers too, though I hope they don’t demolish the box.
Love your videos Geoff ❤
I live near Ashington and this is going to make my commute to and from work so much easy. Really looking forward to it fully opening
Fantastic news well documented Geoff, comming from the north east myself, wonder what other line will reopen.....
When I was 10 my brother and I explored these original trains Monkseaton to Blyth , Newbiggen
Great to see another line opening and good to see it happening in the North
Integration with the Metro is an excellent plan
I love the Metro
We are going to Newbiggin in April from Nottingham and going to miss the opening by just a few months. Me and my lad are going to make a special trip back once it’s opened.
Always existed about a new line opening, can't wait for the opening of the Leven line in spring .
South-East-North-umberland - that gets my head in a knot!
Nice to see them re-opening closed Railway lines!!! 🙂🚂🚂🚂
Great! Looking forward to similar investment in Notts for the extensions to the Robin Hood line via the Dukeries and Maid Marian lines soon. You'll be welcome to do the video when they arrive!
Really excellent video
This is great, excellent!
Thanks very informative
We used to live in Ashington. Giving that area rail access to Newcastle and the wider network will bring regeneration to that area. So glad to see it!!
Nice to see my hometown (Ashington) finally getting (re)connected by rail
Geoff, I love your UA-cam a lot
BIG FAN!
Always good to see railways reopening.
I can remember with fondness getting the trains from Blyth to Newcastle in 1964, they were steam trains then though. Can't wait to get on the train again 🎉
Doesn't sound like a new line under construction, more like reopening/reconstruction of stations on an existing freight line. Still great news! 👍
I was hoping you would cover this line!
Really good, lets hope for more across the Northern network
GOOD!! Keep 'em coming! 👍
I went down to the station at Ashington this morning and it looks almost complete. There's a bike rack and some of the signage is up so probably not much left for them to do there.
Great vid Geoff🎉🎉
Yes Geoff my part of the woods this. Seaton Delaval Hall a bit of a hike from the station
it actually looks exciting geoff.
Its absolutely amazing to see axed lines brought back to oasanger service! This looks gery good
Brilliant video Geoff! .I live in Morpeth and just found this on UA-cam-keep up the good work
As a Blyth native living in the south now I can't wait for this to open. I'll be keeping a look out for opening date and hope to be on the first train!
Always happy to see another railway line reopen 🛤
So they haven’t done the full route familiarisation run yet, so I haven’t missed you at Ashington then! Excellent!
Very nice video
ah damn, geoff marashall was literally 100m from my flat and i didnt get to say hi!!! so glad were getting some proper rail service up here and that itll connect to the metro, cant wait for it to be open
Great to see rail investment in my neck of the woods. Have passed over these level crossings many times going into Blyth and always wondered why they couldn't just run passenger trains on them - great to see common sense has prevailed, including adding the line to the T&W Metro zones too. Great work!
Saw you vlogging on that trip and now the UA-cam algorithm sent your video to my feed. I'm documenting the project (photographically) for Morgan Sindall, working for the social value team. If only it wasn't always so wet - haha.
Great to see these lines reopening.
I love how i saw my friend Jamie on the station at the beginning of this video! He was in your video "Manors least used" a few years back haha!! Great video Geoff!
Good video!
Looking forward to riding on it myself