Barter Books is located within a magnificent old Victorian railway station – one perhaps unique in its grandeur for the size of the town it once served. As so many of you seem to share our appreciation of the station, itself – its history and its architecture – we have drawn up this historical tour, which we hope will be of interest and encourage you to visit us in person.

General History: Alnwick's first railway station was opened in 1850 and served as the branchline terminus from the nearby coastal village of Alnmouth – then and now a frequent stop on the East Coast Main Line. Eventually, however, the need to enlarge both the building and the services became apparent. To that end, the North Eastern Railway (NER) extended the line 35 miles north to Coldstream – an extension which would have needed the co-operation of the Duke of Northumberland both as a major county landowner, as well as the then owner of the Alnwick station site.

To impress the Duke, the NER commissioned their well-known architect, William Bell, to design a new much grander station to replace the original one. This new station was opened on September 5th, 1887. It is constructed of sandstone excavated from the deep cuttings at Rugley and Lemington during the building of the Coldstream branch. The cost of the line extension was £272,266.15.3d (£272, 266.76), of which Alnwick Station cost £11,500, with an additional £3931 for engineering works.

The quality of work by the construction company, Meakin & Dean, was to a standard rarely seen in modern times, one shown not only by the execution of the graceful design but also by the remarkable attention to detail.

The Coldstream branch was closed to passengers in 1930 and to goods traffic in 1953. The passenger service on the Alnmouth-Alnwick line continued uninterrupted until the notorious 'Beeching cuts' forced the remaining line's closure in 1968 – a line which the bookshop owners hope will one day be reinstated.