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HARTBURN
by Ian Manderson
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Click here -
to see the original page, with details and photographs
of the layout during construction. *****************************************************************************************************************************************************************
A study in rural Northumberland tranquillity at the end of steam. Hartburn is a small village
in Northumberland. It was never served directly by rail but lay just north of the old
Wansbeck Valley Railway from Morpeth to Redesmouth, with the nearest station being Angerton.
However, the original plan put forward in 1855 to link Morpeth and Rothbury proposed a line
running via Meldon, Hartburn and Longwitton. This proposition pre-dated the Wansbeck Valley.
A survey and report was produced by John Willet but nothing came of the project and Rothbury
was eventually linked to Morpeth by the Northumberland Central Railway (NCR) that joined the
Wansbeck Valley at Scot’s Gap.
I have therefore based the plan for the layout on the assumption that this original route was
built. The track-plan is based upon an amalgamation of the 1862 and 1896 layouts for Angerton.
The station buildings are based on those at Brinkburn on the NCR.
The layout is set around 1962/3 just prior to closure. Occasional freight trains still pass
through on their way to Rothbury hauled mostly by ex-LNER J27s. It is imagined a token
passenger service is still in operation, being handled by one of the ubiquitous Metro-Cammell
DMUs. Occasionally a bit of modellers’ license is used and we run the passenger service using
an ex-LNER G5 with a single coach, a sight once common on the Wansbeck and Rothbury branches.
Dimensions and track plan.
