The first bridge on the South Tyne is a railway bridge on the Newcastle and Carlisle railway, which from this point is never more than a mile from the river until it reaches Haltwhistle. The bridge was opened in 1836 with the opening of the Hexham to Haydon Bridge section of the railway, and was designed by John Blackmore. It was built of timber with five spans of fifty feet each but was burned down in 1848 and was replaced using the original piers with cast-iron arches. Railway number NEC-2/83.
A new cast iron bridge on a new alignment was built in 1904. Remains of a stone pier of the old bridge can still be seen in the river, slighly east of the present bridge. A station once existed at Warden, the small village north of the river. The railway follows the course of the river to Fourstones.