STEAM REVIVAL PLANNED FOR ASHINGTON COLLIERY RAILWAY
Could part of famous Northumberland industrial system become new preserved line?
Acolliery railway system once famed for its 24-hour passenger service and fully signalled double-track main line could be reopened as a new preserved line for Northumberland. The Ashington, Blyth & Tyne Railway Association (ABTRA) is in discussions with the successors to the National Coal Board about the future of the last section of the railway started by the Ashington Coal Company in the 1890s, running north from the famous mining town. In its last form it connected the Butterwell opencast coal site adjacent to the East Coast Main Line with Ashington, around four miles distant. Largely disused since the end of deep mining in the area, the track remains in situ (with just a couple of small gaps) for most of the distance. ABTRA proposes an initial reopening of the section north of Ashington Junction, where it joins Network Rail’s Ashington, Blyth and Tyne freight route. Their plans would safeguard the route for freight in the future but introduce steam-hauled passenger trains in the interim. They consider their model to be similar to that of the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) where freight traffic is accommodated mid-week with steam services at weekends. The latest discussions took place in May. ABTRA’s initial aim is to set up an operating base on a currently isolated section of around a mile, running from the edge of Ashington through woodland to the site of a now lifted level crossing over the A1068. As yet no timescales have been announced should this phase of works go ahead. Initial surveys of the remaining track have also been undertaken. The section was originally laid in 1897 to serve Linton Colliery and converted to double track in 1921. It boasted passenger trains from opening until 1966; at the peak of the service, which was available to the public as well as miners, up to 100 passenger trains a day ran, around the clock, seven days a week, all operated by the coal company and later the National Coal Board. The route has already been closed once before, only to be reinstated and extended to serve Butterwell in 1978. If successful, ABTRA hopes to be able to expand both north and east. To the north, if it can cross the A1068, it would like to reopen more of the route towards Linton and Butterwell. To the east of the current southern end of the line lies Woodhorn Colliery, now a mining museum with a short diesel-worked 2ft gauge passenger railway. Some locomotives and stock used on the network have survived, and ABTRA hopes to work with owners to recreate the route’s unique atmosphere.