Wednesday 2nd August was another important day for the Northumberland Line as project partners and stakeholders had a chance to see the progress on the works along the line from a couple of special trains that ran along most of the line.
Northern ran the trains from Newcastle to Morpeth via the new stations at Northumberland Park, Seaton Delaval, Newsham, Blyth Bebside and Bedlington, before the train then headed to Morpeth.
Northern drivers aren't currently trained to drive between Bedlington and Ashington.
As the train headed north, the first big project we saw as soon as the train left the East Coast Main Line was the new underpass at Palmersville Dairy. This replaces a foot crossing and makes getting from one side of line to the other much safer.
We then travelled past the site of the new station at Northumberland Park and work is well underway on preparing the site and grouting works are underway to fill in past mine workings around the site.
A single platform will be built here and customers will be able to interchange with Metro and buses.
Two of the other key projects on the line are adding new track to give additional capacity on the line so that we can run two passenger trains per hour in each direction as well as the existing freight trains that use the line.
The first new passing loop is between Holywell and Seghill level crossings, with the majority of the track now laid as you can see from the picture.
The second section of new track is extending the double track section south of the station at Newsham with the rebuilding of an embankment towards the curve at New Hartley.
We haven't forgotten about the new station at Seaton Delaval, especially as work on the station will be starting again from Monday 7th August.
Our next picture is from Newsham and both station and bridge construction is well underway.
The bases for the new road bridge over the Northumberland Line are in construction as you can see from this picture. On the other side of the line, concrete was being poured into base on the east side of the line.
The bridge plays a key part in keeping traffic in Blyth moving, along with making access to the new station really easy.
The train continued on its journey and we passed the site of the new station at Blyth Bebside and work is now getting underway on station construction.
After we'd crossed the River Blyth on one of the lines historic iron viaducts, the train arrived in Bedlington.
Work is well underway to restore the sidings at Furnace Way so they can be used by freight trains.
The station platform at Bedlington was also being removed so that the new station can be built.
Track renewal work will start in Bedlington from Thursday 10th August until Friday 18th August.
We hope that's given you a flavour of the works that are happening along the line at the moment, and with a different view, that our customers will be able to see when the line opens in Summer 2024.
We've also got a great video that shows the project progress, along with a chat with our train driver for the day - click here to watch the video.