Notes: This station is immediately north of the former level crossing, 8 miles 49¾ch from Haltwhistle.  On the single 90yd-platform west of the running line, the timber shed (constructed in 1890) housed the booking office and two waiting rooms. A brick-built NER signal box was on the same side of the tracks. The stationmaster’s house, a handsome two-storey Tudoresque structure (Grade II) with the distinctive projecting steep-gabled centrepiece, mullioned windows and angled chimney stacks, stands east of the rails close to the former goods store. A 242yd passing loop was installed.

A small goods yard was provided opposite the passenger platform with two sidings running behind the station house. There was a cattle dock. The station was unstaffed from 23rd August 1954 and the yard was downgraded to a public delivery siding, this closed on 12th September 1960.

During the 1970s when preservation of the Alston branch was first proposed the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society which was formed in 1973 bought two engines in anticipation of running standard gauge, these were stored at Slaggyford for many years. Once it was clear the standard gauge line was not going to be reinstated the steam shunter was given to the Tanfield Railway.

In 2000 the platform and shed remained in good repair and the trackbed was passable; the station house was in residential use. The South Tynedale Railway have now have a leased for the trackbed from Kirkhaugh to Slaggyford, including the station building at Slaggyford where some remedial work has started to ensure no further deterioration of the listed station building. An extension of the line into Slaggyford is planned to open in 2015.

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.

Alston, 1000 ft above sea level, claims to be England’s highest market town. Since at least the fifteenth century, lead had been mined, and by 1768, 119 mines operated in Alston parish. Isolation from markets was a handicap. Although it was not the first proposal for a branch to Alston, the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway’s Haltwhistle-Alston-Nenthead branch received the

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 II*) is particularly striking, but others at Burnstones, Knar Burn and Gilderdale Burn, and the ‘Alston Arches over the Tyne at Haltwhistle (each Grade II) are also worthy of note.

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.

Unfortunately 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 1900 there

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.

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

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)

Other web sites: South Tynedale Railway. History, photographs, timetable and all the latest news of this popular line.

Tickets from Michael Stewart & Brian Johnson, 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, Kirkhaugh (STRPS), Gilderdale Halt (STRPS) & Alston