Aln Valley Railway

With an ultimate aim of joining coast to castle, the Aln Valley Railway is to be built along the disused trackbed that runs from Alnmouth station to Alnwick. There are several obstacles that have worked against us since the fruition of the project, but we are finally getting underway.

Now that issues with the footpath are out of the way, we are designing our new station to be built at the Lionheart Business Park in Alnwick, planning our track laying and preparing our rolling stock at our Longhoughton Goods Yard site, whilst our planning expert is progressing our planning application.

Latest News:

Thursday 25th September - Change to indoor meeting

Last modified on 2008-09-22 14:46:34 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

CHANGE TO ADVERTISED PROGRAMME: first indoor meeting.
 
Please note that the advertised speaker, Professor Alan Earnshaw, is not sufficiently well to be able to come to speak to us at our meeting on Thursday.
 
Instead Gordon Hall will give a slide presentation entitled “So far, so good” and Roger Jermy will give a slide presentation entitled “Roland and Molli”.
 
It is hoped that Alan Earnshaw will be fit enough to visit us next winter season (2009-10).

Preservation groups trust the Aln Valley

Last modified on 2008-08-08 00:19:06 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Two national preservation organisations have decided that the Aln Valley Railway is to be their base.
The On Track Plant Preservation Group which owns various Matissa and Permaquip vehicles has already moved most of them to the Aln Valley. The second group, the UK Alco Group which owns the 1949 built American Locomotive Company, S1 switcher 801, originally owned by Port Talbot Steel Works, is to bring 801 and hopefully some more American locomotives to the railway for restoration and operation.

The Link Spring 2008

Last modified on 2008-08-07 22:34:44 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The Link Spring 2008

The Ashington Future

Last modified on 2008-06-11 11:51:14 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Saturday, 7th June 2008 saw South East Northumberland Rail Users Group (SENRUG) charter a promotional train tour from Morpeth. Passengers on each of the 3 pre-booked trips were taken in a Northern Rail 2 car unit from Morpeth to Newcastle Central then on to the Blyth & Tyne route to the former Ashington Station. Passengers weren’t allowed to disembark but the potential for a resumption of services was there for all to see. Once the train driver changed ends, the charter backtracked to slightly beyond the former Bedlington Station where once again the driver swapped ends and took the train on the final leg through Choppington and Hepscot to Morpeth where everyone disembarked. There were many speed restrictions on the Blyth/Ashington/Bedlington/Morpeth routes which did at least allow time for ‘taking in’ the scenery on a sunny warm day and it was surprising how difficult it can be to identify locations when seen from unfamiliar angles. The near 2 hour round trip was a bargain at £6 per ticket and will have done much to promote SENRUG’s cause.

Working Party Report

Last modified on 2008-06-01 21:40:24 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

Baz, Dave & Ian stacked some more sleepers, and tidied up a bit. Kay continued with beautification of the 165 DE. After a tea break the second Geismar-Stumec rail saw was given a quick check over, with the starter cord being removed and retensioned, A mix of WD40 and diesel was squirted into the cylinder and the saw crank was disconnected and the engine barred over a few times, the plug was cleaned up and reinserted, and after a few false fire, the engine started and ran okay. The saw crank was refitted and the whole unit seems to work okay – we now just need to check how to clamp it too rail and then we will perform a test cut

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