Today, armed with the last page of SENRUG Newsletter 32, my good wife and I headed off to Wylam to explore the vicinity. Our train arrived at Cramlington on time, and I was pleased to note it was one of the hand-me-down rolling stock units now being deployed on our line. This meant we had on-board CIS and announcements, helpfully telling us we were at Cramlington, then announcing both Manors and Newcastle a few minutes before we arrived at each station. But after Newcastle, the CIS became distinctly less helpful, reducing to a constant repetition of “this is a Northern service” and “See it, say it, sort it” – but no station specific announcements. “Perhaps Northern haven’t yet programmed in the Tyne Valley line stations” wondered my wife, proud of her knowledge of the IT that must drive these systems. But I was doubtful. I just couldn’t believe Northern would roll out any upgrade features on our Cinderella Morpeth line before our more favoured cousins at Tyne Valley, and journeys later in the day were to prove me right.
We went direct to Prudhoe as the Morpeth trains don’t stop at Wylam. Finding the riverside path on exit from Prudhoe station was a little tricky – it isn’t signposted. However, after going over the level crossing, turn left into the Country Park towards Hexham then immediately right to go under the road and head east on the south side of the river. There followed a really pleasant riverside walk on a surprisingly warm autumn day, noting the features referenced in Dave Shaw’s excellent article in the SENRUG Newsletter, eventually coming to the old railway bridge at Hagg Bank then across that into Wylam. The path overshoots the village centre, so for those wanting a coffee stop, ascend up to the Main Road when the path goes underneath it, and the coffee shop is a few yards to your left. We were tempted to linger for lunch, but instead continued along the same footpath to George Stephenson’s House – alas closed – with local residents telling me that, like income tax, they suspect the temporary closure announced by the National Trust some years ago has quietly become permanent. There were certainly no signs of any renovation or repair work taking place.
As we were enjoying our Wagon Way walk so much, we decided to continue on to Blaydon, eventually crossing the Newburn bridge, then turning left through a housing estate to find a further riverside all the way to the station. However the station here is adjacent to a busy main road, and whilst a footbridge leads hopefully into the town, there’s no indication as to whether a coffee shop would be found, so rather than wait for 50 minutes at Blaydon for the Newcastle train, then another 20 minutes there for the Cramlington train, we decided to catch the earlier westbound train back to Prudhoe, grab another coffee there from the café just inside the Country Park, and return to Cramlington from the opposite platform on a direct train. Which is how we know that on-board CIS is indeed alive and well on Tyne Valley stations as it worked perfectly on these last two journeys. Could it be that on our outward journey to Prudhoe, the new crew that took over the train at Newcastle simply didn’t bother to press a button, which is why the CIS stopped saying anything useful?
