The Alnwick & Cornhill Railway :: Shared Description
The Alnwick & Cornhill (A&C) line was a railway built to serve the social needs of a sparsely populated area, almost as an obligation, by a large rich railway company.
Passenger service began on Monday 5 September 1887.
The last passenger service was axed on 20 September 1930 after a life of 43 years.
During WW2 there was an upsurge in traffic as many of the large houses were adopted for military purposes. Their uses included headquarters, hospitals, schools for evacuated children, training areas together with munitions, fuel and food stores. A fighter airfield built at Milfield gave Akeld a new lease of life. Timber and sand and gravel were needed in vast quantities for war defences and heavy trains carrying both were frequently dispatched from the line.
Freight continued but the collapse of a bridge north of Ilderton in October 1949 resulted in the line being worked as two sections: Alnwick to Ilderton and Cornhill to Wooler.
The southern section was closed on 28 February 1953. Parts of the northern section lingered until the Beeching axe fell on 29 March 1965.
'The Alnwick & Cornhill Railway', by John Addyman and John Mallon published by North Eastern Railway Association provides most of the information here and has many excellent old photographs.
The book is available from Barter Books which now occupies a large part of the old Alnwick Station!
Passenger service began on Monday 5 September 1887.
The last passenger service was axed on 20 September 1930 after a life of 43 years.
During WW2 there was an upsurge in traffic as many of the large houses were adopted for military purposes. Their uses included headquarters, hospitals, schools for evacuated children, training areas together with munitions, fuel and food stores. A fighter airfield built at Milfield gave Akeld a new lease of life. Timber and sand and gravel were needed in vast quantities for war defences and heavy trains carrying both were frequently dispatched from the line.
Freight continued but the collapse of a bridge north of Ilderton in October 1949 resulted in the line being worked as two sections: Alnwick to Ilderton and Cornhill to Wooler.
The southern section was closed on 28 February 1953. Parts of the northern section lingered until the Beeching axe fell on 29 March 1965.
'The Alnwick & Cornhill Railway', by John Addyman and John Mallon published by North Eastern Railway Association provides most of the information here and has many excellent old photographs.
The book is available from Barter Books which now occupies a large part of the old Alnwick Station!
by Russel Wills
Related descriptions
- Major railway accident in Welwyn North tunnel in 1866
By John Lucas. Used on 3 images
- Kelso Branch Railway
By Russel Wills. Used on 4 images
- Forth Banks Goods Station
By Andrew Curtis. Used on 19 images
- Inveramsay and Macduff Railway
By Anne Burgess. Used on 6 images
- Sweet Indian Steam at Statfold Barn Railway, June 2022
By Alan Murray-Rust. Used on 15 images
- Custom House DLR Station
By N Chadwick. Used on 13 images
- Levisham Railway Station
By Andrew Curtis. Used on 7 images
- View all images using this description in the Browser | On a Map
- View all images using "The Alnwick & Cornhill Railway" Shared Description(s) | (Just this shared description)
- Find images mentioning the words [ The Alnwick & Cornhill Railway ] | (in the Browser)
These Shared Descriptions are common to multiple images. For example, you can create a generic description for an object shown in a photo, and reuse the description on all photos of the object. All descriptions are public and shared between contributors, i.e. you can reuse a description created by others, just as they can use yours.
Created: Mon, 28 Apr 2014, Updated: Mon, 28 Apr 2014
The 'Shared Description' text on this page is Copyright 2014 Russel Wills, however it is specifically licensed so that contributors can reuse it on their own images without restriction.
