Alston's South Tynedale Railway features in Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys following a visit last summer by Michael and his production team from Talk Back Thames Television. The series of 5 journeys from Berwick to the Isle of Man starts on Monday, 23rd January and the programme featuring the South Tynedale Railway will be broadcast on the Tuesday on BBC2 at 6.30pm. CLICK HERE for more information about the programme.
This Journey takes Michael through some of northern England's most dramatic scenery from Berwick-upon-Tweed, crossing the Pennines to the Lake District before completing the journey to the Isle of Man.
Michael visited the South Tynedale Railway at Alston to learn about Thomas Edmundson who invented the once-familiar card railway tickets and the accounting system that lies behind their use. At the time Edmundson was working at nearby Brampton Junction station. The South Tynedale still uses Edmundson Card tickets, one of the few remaining railways to do so.
When in Alston Michael took the opportunity to travel the line on a train pulled by the railway's 0-4-0 locomotive named after Thomas Edmundson.
Railway Chairman Norman Cook said "We were really pleased to see Michael and his team in Alston last year. His journeys tell many stories about the way the railways changed the face of Victorian Britain and we felt privileged to help tell one small part of the story".
With its extended line to Lintley in Northumberland opening on Sunday, 1st April 2012 the South Tynedale Railway has published its new timetable (see below). It shows four round trips daily from Alston, Cumbria's picturesque highest market town, to the railway's new temporary terminus at Lintley. That means the longer return trip maintains the four train timetable that the railway has run since 2006.
The railway's Head of Operations, Dave Potter said "The South Tynedale's a tourist railway and we have to run our first and last trains at times that suit our visitors' plans. With a slightly earlier start and finish we can run four round trips in the day without making it too onorous for our crews or less convenient for passengers".
The railway's two 0-4-0 Henschel tank locomotives, Helen Kathryn and Thomas Edmundson, along with a Hunslet diesel, will provide the motive power for the 2012 season whilst Polish 0-6-0 Naklo begins its ten-year overhaul in the railway's workshop at Alston. The 2013 season should see Green's of Leeds ‘Barber' in steam for the first time since retirement from Harrogate Gas Works in the 1950s.
"The longer line with its steep gradient away from Lintley will be more testing particularly for our smaller Henschel and its crew. It's a decade now since we last opened an extension to our line and our team and regular passengers are looking forward to the changes" said South Tynedale's Chief Mechanical Engineer, Alan Blackburn.
Train times (from 1st April 2012)
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Alston to Kirkhaugh and Lintley
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10.45 |
12.15 |
14.15 |
15.45 |
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Kirkhaugh to Lintley
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11.00 |
12.30 |
14.30 |
16.00 |
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Lintley to Kirkhaugh and Alston
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11.30 |
13.00 |
15.00 |
16.30 |
About the Henschels
0-4-0 Thomas Edmundson is owned by the South Tynedale Railway. Built in 1918 for use by the German Army on the Western Front it missed war service there. It was bought by the Spanish Army and saw battle service in North Africa in the 1919 - 26 Riff Campaign. Later used for training it again was involved in conflict during the Spanish Civil War before working, with others of its type, at a Spanish colliery. It was bought by the STR in the late 1980s and has worked at Alston since then.
0-4-0 Helen Kathryn is a private owner locomotive that has been resident at the STR since moving from The Llanberis Lake Railway. Built in 1948 for post war recovery work in the bomb damaged German city of Dresden it was bought for use in the UK in the 1980s. It was last overhauled in 2004 at Alston.
For any further information on South Tynedale Railway visit their website or contact Glen Kilday Tel. 01751 430897
