Newcastle and Carlisle

It's a surprising thought that in some parts of Britain we are edging up towards the bi-centenary of some of our railways. The line between Newcastle and Carlisle is one of them.

The route was actually staked out within a few years on the completion of the Stockton and Darlington Railway and completed in 1838. At that time it was quite separate from the other railway developments in England and has it's own distinctive styles of civil engineering and buildings. It became part of a wider North Eastern Railway system in the 1860's.

The line runs up the rural valley of the Tyne through Hexham, Haydon Bridge and Haltwhistle and then across the gap and down towards the Solway Firth and Carlisle. Not only is it a very pretty route but it's aways been able to handle the largest of locomotives so, although it's not a first league 'main line'it's had some interesting workings over the years. A good modelling project!

Here's a Scotrail 156 unit passing (as most trains do!) Haydon Bridge station headed for Carlisle then over the border and up to Stranraer for the boat to Larne and connecting train to Belfast. Once there was a direct line from Carlisle to the ferry but these days trains have to head almost as far north as Glasgow, cut over to Ayr and then down the Firth of Clyde coast.