Free car and coach parking is available adjacent to the station which is located about 1⁄4 mile (0.40 km) north of the town on Hexham road.

The replacement signal box at Alston formerly stood at Ainderby, on the branch line to Redmire, prior to being acquired from British Rail and re-erected on a new brick base.

Confirmation was received in November 2009 that a grant of £100,000 had been awarded by the Groundwork UK Community Spaces programme which will be used to fund the restoration of three historic railway bridges on the former Haltwhistle to Alston line.

[2] Rails extend across Lintley viaduct for a distance of about 200 metres (650 ft) from the new station to form a headshunt for works trains.

The extended line from Kirkhaugh to Lintley Halt was officially opened in Saturday 12 May 2012 by Lord Inglewood, a long-time friend of the railway society.

In September 2012 the Heritage Lottery Fund made an award that allows development work on a full bid for the Slaggyford extension to proceed.

In December 2012 a serious wash-out of a retaining wall about 50 metres (160 ft) north of Alston Station threatened to stop the popular Santa trains.

The STR was left with a significant fund-raising issue to fully repair the 160-year-old wall, restore the lineside footpath and return the line to use.

During January 2013 the railway society's ambitions that, one day, trains will again run all the way from Alston to Haltwhistle moved a couple of steps closer.

British Railways Board (Residuary) Ltd. improved upon and changed an earlier offer that now transfers a 7-metre (23 ft) wide strip of land to the society.

Additionally a small parcel of land that allows access to the station area from the Alston Arches Viaduct will be made available to the railway society.

The one-year project is in partnership with the North of England Civic Trust backed by a bursary and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

This important acquisition lays down further building blocks towards the society's aim to eventually reopen the full length of the branch line.

Additions to the fleet in 2011 were an all-steel buffet coach, originally built by Gloucester Carriage and Wagon for Sierra Leone Railways, and re-gauged from 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) to 610 mm (2 ft) for use at Alston, and a re-gauged former Romanian steel coach now converted to be fully accessible for disabled passengers.