Chathill railway station

src: upload.wikimedia.org

Chathill railway station is on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom, serving Chathill and surrounding villages including Seahouses, Embleton, Bamburgh and Belford, in Northumberland. It is 314 miles 57 chains (506.5 km) down the line from London King's Cross and is situated between Alnmouth to the south and Berwick-upon-Tweed to the north, although no trains continue north from Chathill. Its three-letter station code is CHT.

Although it is on the main line, the station is served by just two arrivals and departures per day, Mondays to Saturdays only, providing commuting links to Newcastle. The services are operated by Northern, which also manages the station. As Chathill is the northern terminus of these services and the Northern network, there are no direct connections between Chathill and stations further north (the diesel multiple unit used on these services runs empty northwards from here to Belford loop to reverse before returning to take up its southbound working).

The station was for many years served by loco-hauled stopping trains between Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed and Edinburgh Waverley (the British Rail timetable for 1982 had four departures each way from here), but these were reduced in frequency and curtailed at Berwick by BR at the latter end of the 1980s and subsequently withdrawn altogether north of Chathill after the introduction of electric working on the ECML in 1991.

Because of the limited service, an easement permits passengers wishing to travel northwards towards Berwick-upon-Tweed and Scotland may double back via Alnmouth. The local rail user group SENRUG has been campaigning since September 2016 to have local services on the Newcastle - Berwick - Edinburgh corridor increased (to offer more choice for commuters and offer leisure opportunities for visitors to locations such as Lindisfarne and St Cuthbert's Way) which would see service levels from here improved if the proposals were adopted.

The station was opened by the Newcastle & Berwick Railway in 1847 and between 1898 and 1951, it was the southwestern terminus of the North Sunderland Railway. Independent until its takeover by the LNER in 1939, it formed a standard gauge rail link to the fishing village of Seahouses.

It has retained its Grade II listed main building and signal box on the northbound side, though neither is in operational use (the station house is privately owned and the box houses signalling equipment). The level crossing here is remotely operated by CCTV.

Video Chathill railway station

Facilities

The station is unmanned and has no ticket facilities, so intending passengers must buy tickets on the train or prior to travel. There is a large stone waiting shelter on the southbound platform, but no other amenities apart from information posters on each side. Step-free access is available to each platform.

Maps Chathill railway station

Services

The station sees only two services per day in each direction, and only on Mondays-Saturdays including bank holidays. Southbound services run to Newcastle at 07:08 and 19:10 (weekdays), and 07:10 and 18:36 on a Saturday in the winter 2016 timetable; the weekday evening train is extended through to Hexham. Northbound services from Newcastle arrive (and terminate here) at 06:46 and 18:49 on weekdays and 06:50 and 17:59 on Saturdays, the latter in each case starts from MetroCentre.

There is no Sunday service.