Wooler railway station

Wooler railway station was a stone-built railway station serving the town of Wooler in Northumberland. It was on the Alnwick to Cornhill Branch which ran from Alnwick to Cornhill Junction on the Kelso line near Coldstream.

Wooler
LocationWooler, Northumberland
England
Grid referenceNT993285
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyNorth Eastern Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
North Eastern Region of British Railways
Key dates
5 September 1887Station opens
22 September 1930Closed to passengers
29 March 1965Goods services withdrawn

History

Authorised in 1882 the Cornhill Branch was built to link the farming communities of north Northumberland with the market town of Alnwick and link the North Eastern Railway's Kelso line to its Alnwick Branch. Construction started by the North Eastern Railway in 1884, and the line opened to freight between Cornhill and Wooperton on 2 May 1887, and the whole line for both freight and passengers on 5 September of the same year. The line had difficulty attracting passengers as many of the stations were some distance from the communities they served. Increased bus competition in the 1920s led to passenger trains being withdrawn on 22 September 1930[1] although the service resumed briefly during the Second World War to serve RAF Milfield near Akeld.[2]

After a severe storm in August 1948[3] washed away a bridge north of Ilderton station British Railways who had recently taken over the line decided that the volume of traffic along the line did not warrant replacing it. The line was thus split into two, Alnwick to Ilderton, and Coldstream to Wooler which included Akeld. This coupled with an infrequent service caused the line to go further into decline and the section from Alnwick to Ilderton closed on 2 March 1953 with the other section including Wooler station following suit on 29 March 1965.

Services
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Akeld   North Eastern Railway
Cornhill branch line		   Ilderton

Present day

The station building is intact and has been divided into two residences.[4]

References
  1. http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/alnwickcornhill
  2. http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/a/akeld/index.shtml
  3. Passengers No More by G.Daniels and L.Dench
  4. http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/w/wooler/index.shtml
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  • Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
  • Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
Cornhill Branch
Overview
LocaleNorthumberland
SuccessorNorth Eastern Railway
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Kelso Branch
to Kelso │ to Tweedmouth
 
Coldstream
opened as Cornhill
 Mindrum
 Kirknewton
 Akeld
 Wooler
 Ilderton
 Wooperton
 Hedgeley
 Glanton
 Whittingham
 Edlingham
 Alnwick
Alnwick branch line
to East Coast Main Line

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