Walk back through the doorway into the present Till Room:

You are back in the old station concourse. At this point, when the trains were still running, you would have a) turned right for a train onto the Coldstream line; or b) gone straight ahead into the old 3rd class Waiting Room; or c) turned left for a train to Alnmouth. (Note: all the breezeblock walls in this room are post-Beeching.)

At this point, have a look, once again, at the roof. It is composed of three canopies which run the full length of the building. The central narrow canopy covers the former passenger waiting rooms and the refreshment room on the large central ‘island’ platform. This island platform provided access to trains on either side of the three waiting rooms. Two wider canopies flanked the central canopy both to accommodate the trains and shelter passengers

The Walkabout (continued)

Turn immediately right, passing by the Alnwick Station browser (14) which is devoted to an in-depth history of Alnwick Station. Then turn right again into the present-day Children’s Room and stand by the original double-entrance doors (15). Passengers entered the station through these doors with, on their left, the ticket window (16). After buying their ticket, they could then have bought a magazine or book from the W H Smith kiosk (17) opposite. The W H Smith staff room behind it is now the bookshop office and, like its predecessor, is closed to the public. (Until the 1960s this kiosk was the only place in Alnwick where you could actually order, let alone buy, a book.) Above the doorway leading back into the present Till Room is another Potts of Leeds clock.

waiting on the platforms. You can see the Alnmouth-Alnwick branch canopy and the central canopy clearly in the bookshop Till Room, while the Coldstream branch canopy is hidden from view by the breeze-block wall to the right.

Now, turn immediately left to pass by, once again, the Alnwick Station browser and stand at the end of the counter. Note the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster (18) on the wall above the till. It is an original poster from WWII and was found by chance in a box of old books. An unshowy little star of the shop, the poster has often been written about, including in national publications. (Due to popular demand, facsimile copies are available and have sold in the thousands.) Then walk down to the far end of the original concourse, where you can look into what was the old Porters’ Room (19) (now the shop Staff Room and closed to the public), which boasts another cast-iron fireplace.

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Waiting Room, itself, has been earmarked exclusively for our customers’ use during the day (newspapers provided!). After hours, subject to prior arrangement, it is used for various civic events and shop functions.

While in the Old Waiting Room, note the following:

a) the beautiful original hand-made Victorian tiles, the original seating, the timber ceiling with the familiar chevron motif (repeated on the outside curly path and on the doors, etc.) and the fine original cast-iron NER fireplace with a medallion interweaving the NER initials.

b) The modern wrought iron hanging lamp, ‘Mythical Destinations’, commissioned by Barter Books from North East artist, William Pym. The theme of the lamp combines both the railway motif (note the tracks extending out from the central hub

Circle around the book columns to pass by our ‘Cyber Cookie’ (20) – little cousin to a proper Cyber Café! (Note the smoke stains on the shop’s rear wall. Steam engines would stand at buffer stops roughly midway between the book columns at this end, so that smoke from their chimneys would inevitably stain the wall on its way out of the roof ventilators.) Just past the Cyber Cookie is a free-standing decorative castiron column (21) – one of fourteen such columns supporting the roof. The columns are hollow and incorporate the roof drainage system in their cores.

Walk through into to the Old Waiting Room:

The Old Waiting Room (22), directly opposite the Children’s Room, was originally the 3rd class Waiting Room (2nd class was abolished in the 1880s). Like other locations throughout the shop, the original fittings have been preserved and/or restored as much as possible. The Old

in a classic rose pattern), as well as a literary one (all the destinations are mythical). In the centre of the hub is the Latin phrase ‘Et in Arcadia ego’ or ‘I, too, am in Paradise’. (Well, we would have you believe it, anyway!)

Walk out the side door (created after the station closure) into the Main Hall:

This Main Hall (23) once contained Platform 2 and its tracks. Please note:

a) the station, with its central ‘island’ platform, had two faces for trains to use. If you look at the floor, there is a line in the concrete about one-third of the way into the room. This line marks the edge of Platform 2 which was normally used for trains to Alnmouth, Newcastle, or Berwick. Platform 1, on the other side of the Old Waiting Room, was used for trains to Coldstream via Wooler.