More photos available from Northumbria Rail Ltd website at:
btdg.co.uk/gallery/?album=1&gallery=3.

ASHINGTON BLYTH & TYNE RE-OPENING CAMPAIGN GIVEN SIGNIFICANT BOOST

The campaign to see passenger services restored on the freight only Ashington Blyth & Tyne Railway took a significant step forward on 7th June 2008 when the local rail user group SENRUG chartered a special train to run round the line.

The train, chartered from Northern Rail through sponsorship from Wansbeck District Council, made 3 separate trips round the line, with each trip including both the Morpeth - Choppington - Bedlington and the Northumberland Park - Newsham - Bedlington - Ashington sections of the line, both of which have been the subject of recent re-opening studies. (insert link to map).

Tickets on the 2nd & 3rd trip were sold to members of the public and in fact were completely sold out within days of release, indicating the high level of local support for the scheme.

However, tickets on the 1st trip were reserved for local stakeholders and this train included over 130 representatives from Northumberland County Council, Castle Morpeth Borough Council, Morpeth Town Council, Wansbeck District Council, Blyth Valley District Council, Newcastle City Council, Association of North East Councils, North East Assembly, Nexus, Government Office North East and SENNTRI. Wansbeck MP Denis Murphy (Labour) was on board as was North East England MEP Fiona Hall (Lib Dem). Representatives from local businesses, North East Chamber of Commerce and the TUC were also on board, as was RailFuture North East branch chairperson Martin Murphy.

Significant press coverage was achieved with the trip being highlighted on BBC TV The Politics Show (8th June - for a video replay click on link below), BBC TV Look North (7th June), BBC Radio Newcastle Drivetime (6th June), Century Radio and Smooth Radio's hourly news broadcasts (7th June) and with reporters / photographers from 4 local / regional newspapers also present.

Dennis Fancett, Chairman of SENRUG was interviewed for the 2 BBC TV programmes and was extensively quoted in the local press coverage. "We called the charter train 'The Ashington Future' because we want to highlight the regenerative benefits re-opening the line will bring" he said. "This was not a heritage or nostalgic trip. We deliberately chartered a standard 2 coach train from Northern Rail - exactly the kind of stock that would be used if the line is indeed re-opened, and we set the fares for the trains open to members of the public at the kind of level they are likely to be once the line is re-opened, rather than charge premium as often happens on heritage trips. As we completely sold out, we are being inundated with messages asking us if we are going to do this again next year. Our reply however is that we hope the line will soon be re-opened permanently, meaning local people can travel on it every single day, and not just on special occasions).

SENRUG produced a colour brochure programme detailing their re-opening campaign. Copies have been left at Morpeth Station ticket office and local libraries. If you do not have a copy, please email enquiries@senrug.co.uk and we will tell you how to obtain one.

Video clip of BBC TV The Politics Show Sunday 8th June 2008

The News Post Leader has a video clip of our charter & can be found here. Press the play button at the top right of the article.

As part of its campaign to see the line re-opened permanently to passenger traffic, SENRUG has received sponsorship from GO WANSBECK to charter a train to run round the line as far as Ashington.

The special charter train will be called The Ashington Future. It will run on Saturday 7th June 2008 and will make 3 separate round journey trips. Each trip will start at Morpeth, run down the main line to Newcastle, back to Benton Junction, then round the Ashington Blyth & Tyne line through Newsham, Bebside, and Bedlington to Ashington. The train will then run back to Bedlington, then through Choppington and back to Morpeth, where each trip ends.

For a full map of the route click here (the train will only run on the Morpeth - Newcastle - Ashington - Morpeth section shown on the map).

By running a train along the line, we will demonstrate it is fully operational and maintained, and capable of carrying passenger services, as well as promoting our campaign amongst the general community from the visual impact of seeing a passenger train running along the line throughout the day in question.

The 3 trips leave Morpeth at 08.55, 10.57 and 14.27. Each trip will take almost 2 hours. The first trip is being reserved for invited guests from stakeholder organisations such as statutory authorities and redevelopment agencies (see list below). Tickets are now on sale to the general public for trips 2 and 3 at price £6 Adult and £4 Child. Children under 5 are free if they do not occupy a seat. If you would like them to have a seat, you must purchase a child ticket. We do expect every available seat to be sold.

There is the option to join the train at Cramlington or Newcastle 8 and 20 minutes respectively after the departure time from Morpeth although you can only be conveyed back to Morpeth, and would have to return to Cramlington or Newcastle by a service train (and pay the appropriate fare). Please note it will not be possible to board or alight at any of the disused stations the train passes through, such as Bedlington and Ashington, and train doors will not be opened at these points.

We are using a standard 2-car train, chartered from Northern rail - exactly the kind of train that would be used if the line were brought back in to service. The capacity of the train is 150 seats so there is only this number of tickets for sale for each trip.

Special note for photographers: As train doors will not be opened whilst the train runs along the Ashington Blyth and Tyne line, you will not be able to get external shots of the train whilst actually on board. The answer to this is to book on to one trip, and then take external photos whilst the train is on the other two trips.

Approximate train times at key points are given in the following table.

Please Note: SENRUG can not be held responsible for any changes to these times

After the event, SENRUG would be very pleased to receive any shots that you are willing to let us use on our website, in a future brochure or leaflet or in our exhibition material. Obviously we can not pay any commission for photos, but we will try to remember to acknowledge you as the photographer. We are particularly keen to have shots of the train as it crosses the rivers Blyth and Wansbeck, as it passes through the disused stations and as it passes across level crossings. Send your shots in digital form saying where taken to enquiries@senrug.co.uk. We will assume that any photos emailed to us are on the basis outlined above.

Under no circumstances must anyone trespass on to railway land. All photos must be taken from public places, eg the road or a public park or path. Not only is this for your own safety, the last thing we want is for our trip to be curtailed or cut short if the train is halted due to reports of a trespasser on the line.

Who are we inviting on the special stakeholder trip? We are inviting MPs, MEPs, Local Authority Councillors from the Northumberland Unitary Authority, Wansbeck and Blyth Valley Councils, representatives from North East Assembly, Government Office North East, One North East, Association of North East Councils, SENNTRi, Nexus, Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Authority, Department for Transport, Passengerfocus, RailFuture, local businesses and the Press.