North East Day 2 - Trains and Books - Lots of Books

The main reason for coming this far north on the trips was to visit the Aln Valley Railway and Barter Books in Alnwick, both of which aims were achieved today. I was a bit early at the railway (I often am) and they were just getting sorted and set up but it meant I got a brief personal tour of the site and some interesting information. I know I often say it in these blogs but I can't believe the effort put in by volunteers and the friendliness they show to visitors.

This is another slight oddity of a railway as the site and station were built relatively recently on virgin (with a small v) ground. The line was cut off when the A1 bypass round Alnwick was built and the original station is now the aforementioned Barter Books.

This panorama from the footbridge doesn't quite show everything but it's captured most of it.

Until this year they generally just ran guards van trips up and down the platform area but they've now got about a mile of track opened up which dips down fairly steeply to the original line. They're working their way on from there towards Alnmouth, about 3 miles away. Fortunately the Cawledge Viaduct, on the way, has been professionally examined and declared sound. It will need further inspections once trains start running over it in the relatively near future.

I mentioned volunteers earlier, they have several groups working (mostly on a Tuesday). They are carrying out their own carriage and loco work there, the two coaches on the train had come out of their workshop and I can attest to the high standards of finish. Of course there are always more to work on, currently there's a diesel and an Inspection Coach being worked on inside. The latter had a kitchen and toilets, it's planned to get it fully restored so it can be hired out for posh teas, etc.

It was notionally their "Steam Gala Weekend" which basically meant they had two engines in steam. They have to run two locos anyway as there's no runaround at the end, so one pulls the train down and the other pulls it back up! One loco is their own, the other is on loan after it was decided it was surplus to requirements elsewhere.  Given the steepness of the slope the returning train is quite noisy, I've got a video but that will have to wait until I'm back home. This picture is the Push-Me-Pull-You on the outward run.

From the railway I then drove in towards Alnwick town being very lucky to find a parking place at the old station. I know the story of the bookshop has been featured on various TV programmes recently but for the sake of simplicity it is a huge provider of second-hand and new books; it is also the place where the wartime Keep Calm and Carry On posters were rediscovered (an enterprising local caravan dealer has had Keep Calm and Caravan hitch covers produced). Even they don't know how many books they actually have! It's also an excellent catering venue, the Ploughman's Lunch I enjoyed was certainly nothing like anything any farmworker would have had, several thick slices of home cured ham, about 4oz of local cheddar and a delicious salad. I washed it down with a bottle of their own 1621 Ale (named after a locomotive, not the year) before starting to work my way through the bookshop itself. I was very good (given I've got very little spare storage in the 'van) and only bought 4 books.

As an aside regarding untethered children and modern parenting there is definitely still some hope! Two young lads, I suspect sons of a staff member, were having lunch alone in the bookshop Buffet. I struggle to judge ages but I'd say the elder might just have been a teenager. They were polite to the staff, chatted away without causing a nuisance, and obviously enjoyed their lunch. Later when I'd driven down into the town itself I had an ice cream (Mint Chocolate for the record). Whilst eating it a family came in and ordered 4 cones at £2.80 each, dad immediately had the two probably pre-teen girls working out the total and helping them ("What's £2.50 times 4? Then add 30p times 4!"). They got there between them.