Dave sent me some photos of a recent visit to the Aln Valley Railway.  Not one I’d heard of, but their web site describes it thus:

The principal objective of the Aln Valley Railway Trust is the restoration and operation of the railway between Alnmouth and Alnwick, providing an additional tourist attraction for the area and to enlarge the district’s tourism offering. This project also aims to develop the railway corridor as a sustainable transport link as well as a recreational and educational resource for the local community and visitors to the area.

Due to the building of the A1 bypass which cut the original trackbed on the outskirts of the town, and the construction of industrial units and a supermarket on ex-railway land, the costs of getting the line to the original station in Alnwick are almost prohibitive.

Therefore a new station has been built on a greenfield site in Lloyd’s Field, adjacent to the Lionheart Enterprise Park just outside Alnwick. The new ‘Lionheart Station’ is aligned parallel to the A1 from where a single track line joins and follows the original trackbed towards Alnmouth Station, near Hipsburn. Ultimately heritage steam and diesel locomotives will haul trains between the two locations. As an integral part of the project, a permissive cycle path runs alongside the railway line, and will link up with the National Cycle Network at Alnmouth and the A1068 road next to the A1. This provides a safe corridor for cyclists, pedestrians and riders, and has also been proposed to form the basis for an educational nature trail.

And here are the photos, with an Austerity tank engine in steam.

The yard, and some other interesting locomotives and rolling stock.

The NCB Austerity.

End of the line (for now.)