Blyth may have missed out on £13 million during 60 years without passenger trains
Blyth may have missed out on around £13 million in local economic output during more than 60 years without passenger trains, according to new research.
Passenger services to the town via the Northumberland Line ended on November 2, 1964.
For most communities with a lost railway, the question of what might happen if trains returned is a hypothetical one, but not for Blyth.
Passenger rail returned in October 2025 with the opening of the new Blyth Bebside station on the Northumberland Line, offering journeys to Newcastle in under 30 minutes.
World of Railways estimates the cumulative local economic effect during the years without passenger rail at around £13m – the largest result among the communities examined in its Britain’s Lost Railways project.
The figure is not an exact bill for the closure. It is an estimate of local economic activity that may have been missed while the town was disconnected from passenger rail.
Emily Warner, at World of Railways, said: "Blyth is one of the most interesting places in this research, largely because we don’t have to leave the story in 1964.
“Instead, Blyth gives us a chance to watch it happen."
The wider Northumberland Line passed has now passed two million passenger journeys, although that figure covers the whole route rather than Blyth alone.
World of Railways will now be able to follow what happens as residents make use of the restored connection.
The investigation is part of World of Railways: Britain’s Lost Railways project ahead of The National Festival of Railway Modelling, at the NEC Birmingham on November 21 and 22.