1 July 1847 (Private: never became a public station)

North side of the level crossing, on the lane branching off the B1340 a short distance north-east of Christon Bank village.

Newcastle & Berwick Railway

Private station. Last trains called in 1934 (or possibly 1935)

London & North Eastern Railway

Demolished

Notes: This station was constructed close to the gates and drive of Fallodon Hall, one of the homes of the eminent Grey family, through whose land the railway passed. The most renowned member of the family was Charles, 2nd Earl Grey, who was British Prime Minister from 1830-34, and it was for his use that the station at Little Mill was provided, four miles south of Fallodon, and close to the other family seat of Howick Hall.

By providing the station at Fallodon for the influential family the passage of the Newcastle & Berwick Railway Bill through Parliament was eased. The understanding was that this station would be private but that the general public could use Christon Bank station, a little less than a mile south of Fallodon. At the time of its opening, Sir George Grey (pictured left) was the proprietor of Fallodon Hall, and he held the position of Home Secretary in the Whig Prime Minister Lord John Russell’s cabinet. Grey was given the right to stop any public train at Fallodon.

The official status of Fallodon station was described in these words – with absence of punctuation as found in legal documents: ‘A convenient siding or stopping place with all the necessary rails and other conveniences for the stopping taking up and landing thereat of passengers carriages and trucks with coals and other goods thereat and would at all times whenever the said Sir George Grey his heirs and assigns owners of this house at Fallodon aforesaid for the time being should request the same [Newcastle & Berwick Railway] to stop any train at the said siding for the purpose of setting down or taking up the said Sir George Grey his heirs or assigns of his or their family friends and servants and their luggage’

Fallodon was a complete station, with two 127-yard platforms north of the level crossing. The station house, west of the tracks, had the Tudor/Jacobean (‘Jacobethan’) hallmarks of the Newcastle & Berwick Railway. Fawcett (1995) notes that the house was, naturally, smaller than those at the public stations and was not equipped with any degree of extravagance.  Whereas at Killingworth, which can be taken as typical of an N&B station, the building cost £1,129 to construct, Fallodon’s cost only £696; the cost of the other Grey family station, at Little Mill, was £741. Adjoining the down (west) platform and built of stone to an L-plan, the station building at Fallodon possessed ground floor bays, one of which faced the platform, the other (containing the booking office) facing the level crossing, and a small verandah. The roof-line of the building was given added interest by the provision typical N&B decoration: ball finials on the kneelers at the edge of the gables and at the ends of the roof ridges, and lofty chimneystacks, at the north and south ends of the original two-storey section. Grey’s waiting room is assumed to have been the large room which later served as the booking office. An upper storey was added to the north end of the building in 1908. (See the accompanying line drawing of the platform elevation and the plan of the station building below.)

On the up (east) platform was a pent-roof stone shelter of the standard N&B design. Like the station house, the shelter carried ball finials.  A siding was south of the crossing, east of the main tracks, but there was no goods depot.

The station’s signal box was constructed by October 1877 on the down side of the tracks, immediately south of the level crossing. It was an NER N4 design with a brick base, initially equipped with a Stevens 24-lever frame, with two platform levers, of unknown function, for the private station. From March 1961 it was demoted to a gate box, released by Christon Bank. Fallodon box closed on 27 June 1967 when automatic half barriers were installed; they were supervised from Christon Bank, then when this box closed in 1974, the responsibility passed to Chathill. After Chathill box closed in December 1990 surveillance was by CCTV from Alnmouth. Fallodon signal box has been demolished.

Fallodon station was always private, used only by the Greys, their guests (many of whom were distinguished members of society) and their servants. Nevertheless, NER nameboards were installed.

The station was a drain on NER finances: receipts between 1897 and 1914 amounted to £600, whilst the stationmaster and porter cost £157 and £100 respectively each year. In 1914 only eighteen passengers were booked.

The baronetcy of Fallodon passed to Edward Grey (pictured left) who became Liberal MP for Berwick and eventually British Foreign Secretary from 1905-16. He was briefly Chairman of the NER, and later of the LNER North Eastern Area Local Board. He showed responsible restraint in exercising the right to stop trains at his private station: faster expresses which did not call at Alnmouth and Belford were not inconvenienced, except in emergency. In 1898, in addition to ‘local’ stopping services, this effectively meant that four faster trains in each direction might call at Fallodon: these were the up trains departing Edinburgh Waverley at 10.20am, 2.45pm, 5.15pm and 7.35pm, and down trains leaving Newcastle at 6.20am, 9.30am, 12.20pm and 5.33pm. In 1907 when the stationmaster at Berwick chose to be helpful by arranging for one of the principal express trains to call at Fallodon for the convenience of a visitor to the Hall, the NER Operating Department took a dim view of the incident. In the midst of his responsibilities as British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey had the courtesy to write to the General Manager of the NER, graciously exonerating the Berwick stationmaster of responsibility, and confirming that guests at Fallodon should not expect principal expresses to call at the private station.

During the 1920s the general public was lured from the railways by cheaper, more frequent, and generally more convenient bus services. More affluent members of society could now indulge in the luxury of motor cars. Nevertheless, Fallodon station remained in occasional use, and the accompanying poster advertises a half-day excursion from Berwick and some intermediate stations for supporters of the Liberal party to enjoy a garden party at Fallodon Hall on Wednesday 30 July 1930, depositing them at the station at 2.12pm and uplifting them at 8.30pm. Fawcett (1995) remarks that, as the country gentry were making much less use of any privileges they had to stop trains, the railways were keen to abolish this anachronism. When Edward Grey died in 1933, and Fallodon Hall passed from his family to Captain and Mrs Graves, the LNER wasted no time in obtaining the couple’s consent to cancel their right to stop trains, in return for an LNER first class ‘all stations’ pass for life; this arrangement was agreed by the Traffic Committee on 15 February 1934, and trains ceased to call at Fallodon.

After closure the station survived for quarter of a century, but by mid 1960 it had suffered ‘needless and unfortunate demolition’ (Fawcett). Although the buildings and platforms have been removed, the public road north-west of the level crossing has a lay-by corresponding to the ‘forecourt’ of the old station building, and on the site there remains a short section of wall. A modern relay room bearing a modern ‘Fallodon’ nameplate is immediately south of the level crossing.

Click here for a brief history of the East Coast Main Line
in Northumberland.

Route maps drawn by Alan Young. Tickets from Michael Stewart. Poster from Martin Bairstow collection.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Addyman, John F (Editor) A history of the Newcastle & Berwick Railway (North Eastern Railway Association, 2011) – especially Chapter 5 ‘The buildings’ by Bill Fawcett
• Biddle, Gordon Victorian stations (David & Charles, 1973)
• Croughton, Godfrey; Kidner, R W; and Young, Alan   Private and untimetabled stations (Oakwood Press 1982)
• Fawcett, Bill A history of North Eastern Railway architecture Vol 1: The Pioneers (North Eastern Railway Association 2001)
• Fawcett, Bill    Grey and Fallodon in North Eastern Express No.140 (NERA November 1995)
• Young, Alan Railways in Northumberland (Martin Bairstow, 2003)
• Young, Alan    Lost stations in Northumberland & Durham (Silver Link Publishing 2011)
• Quick, Michael   Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (RCTS 2009)
• Clinker, C R   Clinker’s register of closed passenger stations and goods depots  (Avon Anglia 1978)
• Hoole, K    Railway stations of the North East (David & Charles 1985)

See other ECML stations: Tweedmouth, Scremerston, Goswick, Beal, Smeafield, Crag Mill, Belford, Lucker,
Newham, Christon Bank, Little Mill, Longhoughton, Lesbury, Warkworth, Longhirst, Ashington Colliery Junction, Morpeth, Stannington, Plessey, Annitsford (1st), Annitsford (2nd), Killingworth, Forest Hall, Heaton (2nd), Heaton (1st), Durham, Croft Spa, Eryholme, Otterington, Alne & Tollerton