Haltwhistle railway station

The station was opened in 1838 along with this section of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway and is thought to be the work of the line's resident engineer John Blackmore. It became a junction in 1852, when a branch line south to the town of Alston was opened (see below).

Though reduced to unstaffed halt status in 1967, it has retained its water tower, water crane, main buildings, signal box and original wooden shelters; several of these are Grade II listed.[1] The 1901-built signal box was taken out of use in 1993 when the station was re-signalled with colour lights (its replacement is a prefabricated structure on the opposite side of the line), but it remains in use as staff office accommodation.[2] The track layout had previously been reduced and simplified since the demise of the branch and closure of the coal depot in the late 1970s (the old Alston bay platform remains on the south side, though without track). The former booking office and waiting room now houses the local tourist information office.[1]

The station is unstaffed. There is an automatic ticket machine on the eastbound platform. Train running information is offered via digital display screens, timetable posters and telephone. Step-free access is available to both platforms (the westbound one via the road underbridge).[3]

Northern Trains Route 4: Tyne Valley Line
West Coast Main Line to Edinburgh & Glasgow Glasgow South Western Line to Glasgow Carlisle Cumbrian Coast Line to Barrow-in-Furness & West Coast Main Line to London Euston Settle to Carlisle Line Wetheral Brampton Haltwhistle Bardon Mill Haydon Bridge Hexham Corbridge Riding Mill Stocksfield Prudhoe Wylam Blaydon MetroCentre Dunston East Coast Main Line to London King's Cross Newcastle East Coast Main Line to Edinburgh Durham Coast Line to Middlesbrough

Until the summer 2019 timetable change, there was a basic hourly service in each direction (two-hourly evenings, hourly on Sundays), eastbound to Newcastle and westbound to Carlisle.[4] From 20 May 2019 though, an additional service each hour in both directions has been introduced on weekdays and certain trains extended north of Newcastle to/from Morpeth. The evening and Sunday service pattern remains broadly unchanged.[5]

The Alston train waits in June 1973

September 1973 trains for Newcastle and Alston

The station was also formerly the terminus of the Alston to Haltwhistle Railway, a branch line of the Newcastle to Carlisle. Originally built to access the mines around Alston, this line never fulfilled its economic potential and it was closed in 1976 following the completion of an improved road between the two towns.

The track was lifted the following year after a preservation attempt by the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society proved unsuccessful. The society did eventually succeed in buying part of the line and built the South Tynedale Railway, a narrow-gauge heritage railway running from Alston, along the former trackbed as far as Lintley Halt and to Slaggyford by Easter 2017.[6][7][8]

The path of the line follows the Pennine Way for some of its route, and was mentioned by Alfred Wainwright in his Pennine Way Companion.

• Northumbrian Railways
• Video footage of the station

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Bardon Mill		Northern Tyne Valley Line		Brampton (Cumbria)
	Disused railways
Terminus		North Eastern Railway Alston Line		Featherstone Park