South Tynedale Railway - Narrow gauge in the Pennines

Hunslet 0-4-2 "Green Dragon" at Alston

The South Tynedale railway is built on the trackbed of the standard gauge "Alston branch", which opened in sections between 1851-1852. The Alston branch ran from Haltwhistle on the Newcastle-Carlisle line and was closed in 1976. Although a preservation society was set up to preserve the branch and run it in its original standard gauge state, they were sadly unsuccessful in this and the line was taken up. In 1977 they turned their attention to reopening as a narrow gauge railway. By 1983 the South Tynedale railway officially opened to the public and by 1986 they had reached Gilderdale halt, which lies on the boundary between Cumbria and Northumbria.

Since then the railway has opened extensions to Kirkhaugh (1999), Lintley Halt (2012) and to Slaggyford station (2018). This gives the railway a total distance of around 5 miles.

The extension to Slaggyford comes on the back of a Heritage lottery award, which has helped the railway improve its facilities. These improvements are:

• New overall roof and second platform at Alston
• 6 new coaches built from ex Austrian Badnerbahn trams
• Conversion of 2 standard gauge battery locomotives to narrow gauge.
• Installation of solar panels and rainwater collection (for steam locos)
• Extension to Slaggyford and rebuilding of the station, including rebuilding the original signal box.
• Restoration of Hunslet Engine Company 0-4-2T No. 16 of 1937, formerly named "Carlisle" now to be named "Green Dragon" and to run on Biofuel.
• The Heritage engineering workshop

For most, the journey starts at Alston, a small market town located high in the Pennines some 19 miles from Penrith. For a time, the South Tynedale Railway was regarded as the highest narrow gauge railway in England, but it sadly lost that title when the Lynton & Barnstaple railway in Devon reopened. It is now regarded as the highest in Northern England.

Alston station and Metro Cammell DMU looking south. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

There is a lot to see at Alston. One of the recent additions is the Heritage Engineering workshop (pictured below), which gives visitors a chance to see locomotives and stock being worked on. The coach pictured outside the workshop is the railways new mess coach, which has come from Mariazellerbahn railway in Austria.

The current (April 2020) restoration job is the complete rebuild of “Naklo", a polish built 0-6-0 tender engine. The work can be viewed from the balcony on the workshop. The below shot shows the engine complete.

Locomotive No.10 "Nakło" - Polish locomotive Las class no. 3459. Built in 1957, used in sugar factory in Nakło. Sold to the South Tynedale Railway and rebuilt there in 2002. Andy Stephenson Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0

Those who remember Townsfoot models, which was a fantastic model shop located in a small industrial unit in the old goods yard, will be pleased to know that the building now has a new lease of life as the railways "Discovery Centre" - a museum telling the history of the Alston branch along with historic displays and various artefacts.

Located in the adjacent old goods shed is the Hub museum, which has a collection of vintage vehicles and a fantastic 00 scale model of Alston station as it was "back in the day".

Originally the station at Alston had an overall roof which connected to a small engine shed, which is now the site of platform 2 and the carpark. In 2017 a new overall roof, to a new design was constructed over the platforms.

Alston station, general view 1954. View SE to the terminal station and engine-shed, at the end of the ex-NER branch from Haltwhistle (see NY7146 : Alston station, exterior 1954). In the station is a BR Standard 3MT 2-6-0 (tender-first) on a train for Haltwhistle.Walter Dendy, deceased. Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0.

Upon leaving Alston station the train crosses the level crossing for the car park and passes the rebuilt Ainderby signal box, which came from the Wensleydale railway in Yorkshire. After the signal box the train passes the Heritage Engineering workshop and then runs alongside the River South Tyne, a river that it'll run alongside for most of its journey. Pictured is Clayton battery locomotives “Newcastle” One of a pair of locomotives rebuilt and re-gauged from standard gauge. These are recharged via solar power.

The engine shed circa 1990. Dan Crow GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2

From here the train then passes the engine and storage sheds, two similar looking buildings which sit to the right of trains on their outwards journey. From here the railway crosses over the River South Tyne and heads in the direction of Gilderdale Halt.

The halt in 1987. ©Copyright Colin Smith and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The Halt opened in 1986 but had closed by 1999 and today little remains. It stands on the county borders between Cumbria and Northumbria. From here the rest of the journey is in Northumbria, the rugged Pennines giving way to rolling green hills. The above picture was taken from an Alston bound train.

Kirkhaugh Station looking back towards Alston. ©Copyright Peter McDermott and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

The next stop on the line is Kirkhaugh, built as the terminus of the line during the 1996 Gilderdale-Kirkhaugh extension the station and extension did not open till 2000, when it was officially opened by Lord Inglewood MEP. Kirkhaugh served as the terminus of the line-up until 2012 when services were extended to Lintley halt. The station has a run round loop, which is now in use as a stock storage siding, a water tower, a covered ground frame. And it is linked to the South Tyne trail, which runs alongside the STR for its entire length. During the summer of 2017 a small platform shelter was built at the Lintley end of the station. The station is popular with walkers who wish to visit the nearby church and Epiacum Roman fort.

During an August 2017 visit to the railway Train services were being handled by Peckett 0-6-0st "Harrogate", which was originally supplied to the Harrogate gasworks railway in Yorkshire.

For a time, the terminus of the line was Lintley halt, which opened during 2012. The station is built on the site of Barhaugh Colliery sidings. The remains of the aerial ropeway can be seen on the opposite side of the track. The station at Lintley is a single platform, like Kirkhaugh, but unlike Kirkhaugh the station has road access in the form of a small car park located just off the A689. Lintley also has a small waiting shelter with a very informative information sign showing the various walks that can be done from the station along with some other relevant information.

From here the long-awaited extension to Slaggyford begins. The railway crosses a small farm access bridge before crossing Lintley Viaduct. The 1 1⁄4 miles extension opened during early 2018.

Reaching Slaggyford has been a goal of the railway for several years. The work to reach Slaggyford has been funded by a grant from the Heritage lottery fund. The original station building has been completely rebuilt, a toilet block has also been built alongside it in a similar manner. Both buildings have been finished in Newcastle and Carlisle railway colors.

A replica of the original signal box has also been erected at the station, although as the image above shows work on the level crossing was not yet complete at the time of my visit. The Slaggyford section was officially opened by musician Kathryn Tickell a deputy lieutenant of Northumberland on the 24 of July 2017. The train was top and tailed by Barber and Harrogate as the run round loop was not finished. Also, in use was the "green set" of new coaches, but more on those latter. A coach and car park has also been built on the Alston side of the level crossing.

One of the features of the new Slaggyford station is the "Buffet car". The railways ex Sierra Leone Government Railway bogie coach has been placed in a purpose-built bay platform and will serve as the stations static catering facility.

Hunslet 0-4-2T "Green Dragon" No.1859 of 1937 hauls the second train of the day bound for Alston out of Slaggyford station. 22/04/19 was the official launch of the engine into traffic. It's worth noting that Green Dragon runs on wood waste briquettes instead of coal.

Hudswell Clarke Diesel No.4 “Naworth” runs round at Slaggyford in not so great weather. The building behind the loco is the former station masters house.

One of the railways other claims to fame is that it is the home of Thomas Green 0-6-2ST "Barber". My article on the history of Barber can be found here.

As previously mentioned, a grant from the heritage lottery fund allowed the railway to purchase 6 new coaches. These have been built from Austrian Badnerbahn trams. There are two sets of three coaches, one in the above green and the other in the railways standard maroon livery. Each set has two fully closed coaches and one open.

It remains the long term goal of the railway to reopen the remaining section of closed line to Haltwhistle. The railway already owns land at Haltwhistle station (pictured below). But, must overcome obstacles such Lambley Station, which is now a private residence. And bridging the Haltwhistle bypass, which will be extremely costly. When the extension to Haltwhistle happens plans exist to increase the line speed. And, build two new steam locomotives more suited to the longer journey.

Haltwhistle Station on the Newcastle - Carlisle line, and junction with the branch to Built by the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway in 1838. Alston (soon to close), 03/76. Metro-Camm Class 101 2-car dmu Nos.E51209 (Class 101/2, 1958 batch) & E56083 (Class 144, 1957 batch) gets the road for Alston, a month before closure of the branch. Hugh Llewelyn This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

The above shot shows the same site today. Reopening the line to Haltwhistle would once again link the town with the Tyne Valley line which runs between Newcastle & Carlisle. The railway remains hopeful that they can one day fulfill that goal.

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