[1] The Newcastle & Berwick Railway (N&BR) main line between Gateshead and Berwick was authorised by an Act of Parliament of 31 July 1845[2] but due to its primary purpose being for inter-city traffic, it passed almost 3 miles east of Alnwick, the area's main market town.

[2] From the 1920s onwards, traffic on Northumberland's railways declined due to improvements in road transport, resulting in the early closure of the Cornhill line to passengers[5] on 22 September 1930.

[5] The intention to close the line, and station, was announced in March 1966 and was to take effect on 6 June 1966 however significant opposition led to an appeal being made to the Ministry of Transport.

[2] Plans to redevelop the original station site in 1993 (though later abandoned) led to the formation of the Aln Valley Railway Society (AVRS) (since amalgamated into the Aln Valley Railway Trust) in 1995; in 1997 the AVRS announced its intention to reopen almost the entire line utilising the last available section of the original station as its western terminus and reconstructing the rest of the line from there to Alnmouth.

[1] Planning permission to construct the new station and rebuild the original line as far as Edenhill Bridge was granted by Northumberland County Council on 1 July 2010, the lease for the site signed on 22 February 2012 and groundworks began 5 days later.

[7] The station site first opened to visitors five months later on 14 July, but only to demonstrate the ongoing work, exhibits of rolling stock and an indoor exhibition area, café, souvenir shop and model railway;[8] the first train (an engineer's train) did not run until 3 November 2012.

As of August 2018, passenger trains regularly run from the station to Alndyke Farm Crossing, just beyond Bridge 6.