Today was a busy day. David Hoggarth, Director of Rail North had kindly accepted an invitation to speak at our public meeting in Morpeth this evening. The meeting itself went well with good attendance and a diverse range of questions put to David after his talk. Prior to the meeting, Committee Member Andrew Carmichael and myself took David on a tour of the Ashington Blyth & Tyne Line, stopping at Bedlington, Ashington, Woodhorn, the trackbed from the A189 Spine Road into Newbiggin, then down to Seaton Delaval and back to Newsham. We saw this opportunity to give such an influential person a heads up on our re-opening campaign invaluable. We understand that earlier in the day David had a private meeting with Northumberland County Council to discuss the scheme. We had invited the County Council to join us on our tour but no-one was available. So it wasn’t quite the same as August 2012 when the County Council and SENRUG jointly hosted officers from the DfT and took them on a tour of the line together, but progress is nevertheless being made albeit agonisingly slowly.
