Last time on The Garden: the axe falls on the Blyth and Tyne line, and i foolhardily decide to walk its length…
Our journey begins at Northumberland Park, in North Tyneside. Though it’s the
first station we’ll be visiting, it was the last to be constructed, having only opened in 2005 — and
it’s quite easy to tell, even after sixteen years of wear and tear; the place is outfitted with
modern amenities, lifts, ticket machines flush with the wall, and, more lately, pandemic-themed
graffiti opposite the platform. This unassuming metro station will, according to the county
council’s plans, serve as the interchange between the old and new lines, heavy rail and metro
meeting one last time before splitting apart and going their separate ways.
Setting off from there, the first thing that caught my eye were twin giants: a frosted glass-covered
car park and a red-brick Sainsbury’s, unexpected icons of the modern British condition. It didn’t
get much better from there; down the road lies an American-style strip mall lined with bookmakers
trying to get people to piss away all their money.
This sorry-looking trolley was, i presume, abandoned from the local Sainsbury’s.
This southernmost tip of Northumberland is criss-crossed by innumerable public footpaths, cycle
paths, bridleways, and other routes for non-metal-box-related transport; ducking onto one of the
reclaimed
“waggonways” once used
to transport coal, i found myself on the site of the second station on the list.
The leafy suburb of Backworth has a habit of burying its history.
A hoard of offerings from Roman times
was found underground in the 1810s, the last vestiges of the colliery that once was are long gone,
and the tale of this sorry ex-station is rather similar. Opened in 1864 to replace a nearby station
closing the same day, Backworth station served its community for over 100 years, surviving the
Beeching cuts. But when the Tyne and Wear Metro was announced to come to town, the old station
finally closed… for good. It wasn’t until the opening of Northumberland Park that there would be
a replacement.
As i wandered through the village's verdant streets, i couldn’t help but think of its resemblance to
the straight, cycle-friendly streets of my old hometown. A little greenery can go a long way.
The graffiti reads “Monty Brown is a grass”. I would never say such unkind things about Mr
Brown.
Network Rail were hard at work at the site of the aforementioned original Backworth station, whose
plot of land now sits vacant, marking the city’s last hurrah; the further i walked along the dirt
back roads, the further the sounds of bustling cars receded, until, ducking under a shady underpass,
i found myself utterly alone amongst pastoral fields (and the overwhelming scent of manure).
That peace and quiet was swiftly interrupted by a troupe of boy racers on motorcycles and
quad-bikes, but you can’t win them all, you know?
After the county borders were hacked up in 1974, this line became the divider between rural
Northumberland and ostensibly-urban Tyne and Wear.
The (post-1974) border town of Seghill occupies only the tiniest fragment of the
collective English consciousness, popping up briefly in an anti-scab miners’ folk song called
“Blackleg Miner”:
It’s in the evening after dark, when the blackleg miner creeps to work With his
moleskin pants and dirty shirt there gans the blackleg miner!
[...]
So, divvint gan near the Seghill mine Across the way they stretch a line, to catch the
throat and break the spine of the dirty blackleg miner
[...]
So join the union while you may Divvint wait till your dying day, for that may not be
far away, you dirty blackleg miner!
For our purposes, it’s chiefly notable for the fact that it’s the first disused station on the list
whose buildings are still intact and in use, this time as a corner shop, from which i of course
bought a copy of the local rag — prominently including a
Q&A about the restoration of service on the line, which i
thought a fitting reminder of why i set out on this silly old journey in the first place.
After getting some well deserved rest, i headed on off towards the next town over, awaiting what
fresh stories i would find...
Next time on “Walking the Blyth and Tyne”: your author is reminded of her own mortality, finds
himself in the company of a noble family, and shudders at the thought of having to go to Blyth,
of all places on Gods’ green Earth
Maart, 1963. Groot-Brittannië zit in de greep van de koudste winter in twintig jaar, een nieuwe
gezicht bestuurt de Arbeiderspartij, The Beatles hebben net hun debuutalbum uitgebracht, en diep in
de krochten van Westminster zit Dr. Richard Beeching een verslag te schrijven — een verslag die het
bindweefsel van het land voor altijd zal veranderen.
Dr. Beeching is voorzitter van de Britse Spoorwegen, een staatsbedrijf belast met de exploitatie van
het spoorwegvervoer, en zij hebben een klein financiëel probleempje. De
BS beheren ongeveer 25.000 kilometer spoor tussen 4.500 stations, en de
enige manier waarop ze zo’n grote operatie kunnen runnen is met royale subsidies van de overheid -
iets waar de regerende Conservatieven nooit erg blij mee zijn.
Dus legt hij, met een pen in de hand, zijn metaforische bijl aan het netwerk. Duizenden stations
zijn klaar om te sluiten. Het is niet prettig, maar het moet gebeuren — mensen kunnen toch gewoon de
auto nemen naar de dichtbijste station.i
Zo reden een jaar later de laatste passagiertreinen over 8.000 km spoorlijn door het hele eiland.
Dat omvatte de lijnen tussen de mijnsteden van het industriële hart van Northumberland. De Tyne
& Wear Metro opende in 1980 en liet sommige heropenen in de buitenwijken van Newcastle en
(relatief) welvarende kustplaatsen. Maar een paar km noord ligt de oude Blyth- en Tynespoorweg, al
die jaren later nog steeds dicht. Tot nu.
Het lot heeft beslist dat de graafschapsraad en Westminster nu akkoord zijn om deze steden opnieuw
te verbinden met de metropool. De Blyth- en Tynespoorweg, nu bekend als de
Northumberlandlijn, zal, als alles volgens plan verloopt, in 2024 weer open gaan. Om dit historische moment te
vieren, dacht ik te kijken wat er geworden is van deze oude stations. Ik heb er veertien
geïdentificeerd, verleden, heden en toekomst. Ik zal tussen elk van hen lopen en elk van hun
verhalen vertellen. De lijst bevat:
Northumberland Park, een metrostation dat klaar is om het knooppunt van de
nieuwe lijn te worden
Backworth de tweede
Backworth de eerste, al lang gesloten tijdens de bijl van Beeching
Seghill
Seaton Delaval, gepland om te heropenen
Hartley Pit/Hartley, twee oude stations slechts en paar meter van elkaar
Newsham, gepland om te heropenen
Blyth, op een oude aftakking
Blyth Bebside, gepland om te heropenen
Bedlington, gepland om te heropenen
Noord-Seaton
Ashington, gepland om te heropenen
Woodhorn: stond op de eerste plannen voor heropening, maar is sindsdien mysterious verdwenen
Newbiggin: het station bestaat niet meer, maar de route is veilig gesteld voor het geval
It’s March of 1963. The island of Great Britain is in the throes of its coldest winter in two
decades, senior frontbench MP Harold Wilson was recently handed the
reins of the Labour party, the Beatles have just released their debut album, and, somewhere in the
bowels of Whitehall, Dr Richard Beeching is writing a report that will change the country’s
connecting tissue forever.
Dr Beeching, you see, is the chairman of British Railways, the state-owned company in charge of rail
transport, and they’re in a spot of financial trouble. British Railways are in charge of running
fifteen thousand miles of track shuttling between about four and a half thousand stations, and the
only way they can do that is via generous subsidies from Her Majesty’s Government — something which
the governing Conservatives, as a rule, are never too happy about.
So, pen in hand, he takes a metaphorical axe to the network, marking about half of the island’s
stations for closure. It’s not pleasant, but it has to be done — and, after all, people can just
take the car to their nearest station if their town’s is shut.i I’m sure it
won’t be too bad.
That's how, a year later, the last passenger trains ran along 5,000 miles of railway across England,
Scotland, and Wales, including those connecting the mining heartland of industrial Northumberland.
The Tyne and Wear Metro, opened in 1980, allowed some of these lines to reopen in Newcastle’s
suburbs and (relatively) affluent coastal communities. But just a few miles north, the former Blyth
and Tyne Railway has lain dormant ever since the axe fell… until now.
In recent years, the stars have aligned, and both the county council and Westminster have agreed to
reopen the line, finally bringing these proud towns back together. The Blyth and Tyne Railway, now
rechristened by the more attractive name of the
Northumberland Line, is set to reopen by 2024. To celebrate this historic moment, i thought i’d see what has become of
the stations and towns that were. I’ve identified fourteen stations, past, present, and future,
along the line, and i’ll be walking between each of them in turn, seeing what stories they tell. The
list includes:
Northumberland Park, the metro station ready and waiting to become the new
line’s interchange
Backworth (the second)
Backworth (the first), already long closed by the time the axe fell
Seghill
Seaton Delaval, planned for reopening
Hartley Pit / Hartley, two old stations just metres apart
Newsham, planned for reopening
Blyth, on an old branch line
Blyth Bebside, planned for reopening
Bedlington, planned for reopening
North Seaton, now subsumed within Ashington’s town area
Ashington, planned for reopening
Woodhorn, listed on early plans for reopening but mysteriously disappeared since
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, no longer in existence but with the route there safeguarded just in case
Als de maand endigt en de zomer ten einde loopt is het weer tijd voor de maandelijk recap van alles
dat is gebeurd. Dit was augustus.
Bekeken films
Wes Andersons The grand Budapest hotel (2014) — Ik wil binnenin deze film
wonen, en als dat niet mogelijk is, zal ik een manier vinden om het hele film aan mijn muur te
hangen. Een sterke kanshebber voor mijn tweede favoriete film allertijden. (A+)
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious basterds (2009) — Ik moest me wel afvragen of
hun Duits en Frans eigenlijk wel goed was. (A)
Ilya Naishullers Nobody (2021) — Een goed actiefilmpje met leuke scènes die
ik vermoedelijk zal vergeten binnen de jaar. (C)
James Gunns The suicide squad (2021) — Ik ging naar de bioscoop voor de
eerste keer sinds de pandemie begon om dit te zien - ik zou alles geaccepteerd hebben! (B)
Beluisterde albums
The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s lonely hearts club band — (Classic/10) [Beste
nummer: „A day in the life”]
Chvrches’ Screen violence — Het is …. oké? Niet hun beste, niet hun
slechtste. (C) [Beste nummer:
„Better if you don’t”]
Lucy Dacus’ Home video — Práchtig. (B+) [Beste nummer:
„Triple dog dare”]
Green Day’s American idiot — Tegen het einde begint het allemaal een beetje
hetzelfde te klinken. (C+) [Beste nummer:
„American idiot”]
Will Woods The normal album — Chaotisch Goed. (A-) [Beste nummer:
„I / me / myself”]
Diverse foto’s en video’s
De saaie — maar uitstekend fotografeerbare — stad Bedlington.
Genomen vanaf de Tyne Bridge. Ik kan alleen maar hopen dat de winkeleigenaar me niet gaat
aanklagen.
Het prachtige uitzicht vanuit de metro over de rivier Tyne.
As the month winds up and summer draws to a close, it's time again for the menstrual (not that kind!) look back on the month that was.
Films watched
Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) — I want to live inside of this film,
and if that is not possible, i will somehow find a way to hang the entire thing on my wall. A
strong contender for my second favourite film ever. (A+)
Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009) — You do have to wonder if their German
and French was actually any good. (A)
Ilya Naishuller’s Nobody (2021) — A good action film with fun setpieces which i’ll
probably forget i ever watched. (C)
James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021) — I went to the cinema for the first time since
the pandemic began to watch this — I think i would have taken just about anything! (B)
Albums listened to
The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band — I am not entirely sure i could
give this album an objective ranking after all these years of it being talked up, so, uh,
(Classic/10) [Best track:
A Day in the Life]
Chvrches’ Screen Violence — It’s.... fine, i guess? Not their best, not their worst.
(C) [Best track: Better If You Don’t]
Lucy Dacus’s Home Video — Beautiful. Just beautiful. (B+) [Best track:
Triple Dog Dare]
Green Day’s American Idiot — By the end of it it all starts sounding a bit same-y. (C+)
[Best track: American Idiot]
Will Wood’s The Normal Album — Chaotic good. (A-) [Best track:
I / Me / Myself]
Miscellaneous photos and videos
The dull but eminently photographable town of Bedlington.
Surreptitiously taken from the Tyne Bridge. I can only hope the shop owner isn’t going to sue
me.
The beautiful view from the Metro over the river Tyne.
