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The original Aln Valley railway was closed in the late
1960's and the track was removed. Thoughts of re-opening the branch line started in 1995,
but due to the A1 road cutting across the old trackbed, a new site was chosen for a station on the South East side of the road.
Construction began in 2012 and now is over half way to Alnmouth.
We set up camp on Friday evening, on the
far side of platform 2. By the time all the tents were up and belongings
unloaded, it was getting late and we couldn't be bothered with the effort of
cooking - that and the fact that Lynne forgot to pack her pasta! With
McDonalds around a mile away, it made an easy option and an excuse to take
the GPW for a drive. A little further up the platform was an air raid shelter
and allotment. Lynne wants a small vegetable patch in the new garden, but
apparently, I'm not allowed an air raid shelter! |
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The following morning, I moved the Jeep to the West end of platform 1 for display. I think this was only the second or third year for the show, having had to cancel its 2020 event due to covid. Unfortunately the disruption and distraction due to covid, plus a local steam rally, meant that the event wasn't well supported by military vehicles, with only three WW2 vehicles and two post war attending, plus three classic cars across the weekend. It's a shame, as it has the making of a great event if better supported. There were a number of re-enactors there, plus the Seatones singing a number of shows across each day. |
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On both Friday and Saturday evenings, I went for a wander around the rail yard, to look at the locos and rolling stock. They have a few locos up and running, but only the 0-6-0 Austerity No.60 saddle tank loco ran during the weekend. |
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One display, at the opposite end of platform 2 to our tents, was a "Cold War" display. They had a couple of vehicles and a range of weapons from both NATO and Warsaw Pact forces. They went on frequent patrols around the site during the weekend. |
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The loco shed was set up with an SAS Jeep and a number of home front displays, with the far end having a stage for the "Seatones" to perform from. The Home Guard were also seen on duty at various locations around the station. |
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On Sunday, in order to get some different photos, I parked the Jeep at the other end of the platform, next to the footbridge. Within 15 minutes, two ignorant and selfish classic car owners parked in front of me, partially blocking me in. They could have quite easily parked along side the Jeep or next to the other classic car, but deliberately parked in front. Obviously they thought their post war classic cars were more important to what was meant to be a 1940's weekend. So I moved the Jeep back to Saturday's spot. Half way between the idiots and my Jeep was a third classic car and a fire tender trailer. |
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The 0-6-0 Austerity loco No.60, was formerly a Lambton railway locomotive. There's a good chance this 1953 engine ran passed the bottom of our garden during its service life. Sunday was in general, a brighter, warmer day, with more sun 'though the wind was a bit stronger. Later in the afternoon, I could see the mist rolling in from the coast while standing on the footbridge and it waited until we were packing the car before it rained. Thankfully, we'd got the canvas tents down earlier and everything put into one pop-up tent until we could get the car and Jeep across the line to load up after the last train. |
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