Alnwick branch MOD fuel depot

[52D]

The Alnwick branch has just been the subject of a book by Bart Rippon. It appears that the fenced in sidings to the North of the line supplying a fuel depot a little further north adjacent to the Alnmouth road has not had much coverage regards photos or track plans. Can our readers assist with the above.

Thanks

[jdtoronto]

"North Eastern Branch Line Termini" by Ken Hoole has extensive photos but no track plans for the Alnwick Station. It does give one excellent shot of that side of the station grounds. Their is a track plan somewhere, I will see if I can find it for you.

John

[52D]

JD thanks for the offer i have plenty of track plans for various years but the thing i need is detail on the MOD depot about 1 1/2 miles out of Alnwick towards Alnmouth on the North side of the line.

Thanks again

52D

[60041]

There were 2 depots at Alnwick. The first one was just to the east of the South Road immediately north of the overbridge on what is now the Royal Oak estate. It was served by a siding at the top of the embankment and had a pipeline running down into it, and a slide where barrels could be lowered down the embankment side directly into the compound. There was also a flight of steps up the bank from the depot to the discharge point at the top. Access to the siding was controlled by the east box which stood slightly further along the line towards Alnmouth. In the 1970's and early 80's it was used as storage by the Royal Oak gardens, but was demolished when the housing estate was built in the early 90's.
The other depot was situated next to the Alnmouth Road near where the bypass now runs, and is still there but is derilect. It did not have a rail connection, but fuel and oil was delivered to Alnwick by rail and transferred to the depot by road.

[52D]

Sorry 60041 you are definitely wrong the MOD depot discharged from sidings between the Willowburn culvert and an underpass on the original route of the branch. The actual area of the sidings is shown on some maps but because it was an MOD installation the Ordnance survey maps of the day did not show it. The actual site can be discerned from looking at the keys to the past website and toggling between present day and past maps. The depot itself started where the bypass now cuts through and some of the former depot site has been reclaimed by Alndyke farm.
There was a long siding all the way from the Esso depot at the former A1 overbridge to a site just after the Willowburn culvert that was used as a headshunt. Later in the 1960s this headshunt was used to store coaches.