Coldstream railway station

Authorised in 1845 the Kelso Branch was built by the North Eastern Railway to link the communities of the Tweed valley with the fledgling railway network at Tweedmouth. The line opened in two stages, to Sprouston on 27 July 1849, and to Kelso on 1 June 1851.

The Cornhill Branch project was authorized in 1882 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. 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 Increased bus competition in the 1920s led to passenger trains being withdrawn on 22 September 1930,[1] although the service resumed briefly during the Second World War to serve RAF Milfield near Akeld.[2]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 following suit on 29 March 1965.

On 15 June 1964 passenger services were withdrawn along the whole line between Tweedmouth and St Boswells. Freight services between Tweedmouth and Kelso followed suit the next year on 29 March with the complete closure of the line. Only one track of the double line between Kelso and Tweedmouth was initially lifted, but all track was removed in 1969 from St Boswells through to Tweedmouth following closure of the freight service to Kelso and complete closure of the Waverley Route.

The station has been demolished and a housing estate occupies the site.[4]

• 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.

• Coldstream Station on Disused Stations
• Coldstream Station on navigable O.S. map
• Pictures of possibly the last passenger train to Wooler at Coldstream station

Cornhill Branch
Overview Locale Northumberland Successor North Eastern Railway Technical Track gauge 4 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