North Eastern Railway - Cornhill Branch

The Newcastle and Berwick Railway linked these two towns. To the north it connected to the North British Railway (onward to Edinburgh) and to the south to the Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railway and the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway. The line now forms part of the East Coast Main Line. The company was bought by the York, Newcastle & Berwick railway which itself merged with other companies to form the North Eastern Railway in 1854. In 1923 the company was grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway.

A number of branch lines connected to this network. These included the Kelso Line (linking Kelso in Scotland to Tweedsmouth on the Newcastle-Berwick main line); the Alnwick-Alnmouth Branch (1850); and the Cornhill Branch.

The Cornhill Branch linked Alnwick and Coldstream and was opened in 1887 by the North Eastern Railway and joined the Kelso to Tweedmouth line. Coldstream Station was actually in Cornhill! This resulted from the fact that landowners north of the Tweed were reluctant to sell their land for railway building, due to their fears that sparks from the engines would ignite their crops. The Branch cost £272,266 to build and was let as part of a contract which also included the rebuilding of Alnwick Station (now occupied by Barter Books).

The first train to leave the rebuilt Alnwick Station for Cornhill was headed by a Fletcher B.T.P tank locomotive No. 199.

The service was never profitable. Competing road transport for both passengers and goods started to seriously affect the Branch during the 1920s. A particular problem was that many of the stations on the line were a long way from the communities they served. All passenger services on the Branch were withdrawn at the end of the summer timetable in September 1930. In 1948, a flood washed out the line between Wooler and Ilderton and it was not rebuilt due to the high cost. The route (goods only) continued in two parts - Alnwick to Ilderton (finally closed 2 March 1953), and Wooler to Coldstream (closed 29 March 1965). The track was subsequently lifted. The Alnwick-Alnmouth Branch continued operating until 1969.