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Haltwhistle railway station serves the town of Haltwhistle in Northumberland, England. It is located on the Tyne Valley Line 37 km (23¼ miles) east of Carlisle. The station is managed by Northern Rail who provide all passenger train services.
[edit] Services
There is an infrequent service eastbound to Newcastle and westbound to Carlisle.
[edit] Alston branch line
The station was also formerly the junction for a short branch line to Alston. This line was closed in 1976 and the track lifted after an initial attempt at preserving the railway by the South Tyneside Railway Preservation Society was unsuccessful. However, the society eventually bought the line and built a narrow-gauge Heritage railway running from Alston to Kirkhaugh, which uses some of the route of the former branch.[1][2][3]
The branch line followed the Pennine Way for some of its route, and was mentioned by Alfred Wainwright in his Pennine Way Companion.
[edit] History
The earliest recorded history of this locale relates to the Roman era and the construction of the Stanegate and Hadrian's Wall,[4] which two linear structures generally parallel the Tyne Valley Line near Haltwhistle. Hadrian's Wall was designed chiefly to prevent entrance by small bands of raiders or unwanted immigration from the north, not as a fighting line for a major invasion according to Johnson.[5]
[edit] References
- ^ Subterranea Britannica Disused Stations: Alston
- ^ Narrow Gauge Pleasure
- ^ South Tyneside Railway official site
- ^ C.Michael Hogan (2007) Hadrian's Wall, ed. A. Burnham, The Megalithic Portal
- ^ Stephen Johnson (2004) Hadrian's Wall, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc, 128 pages, ISBN 0713488409
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