Station Name: SPROUSTON
Sprouston Station Gallery 1: c1942 - c1965 During World War 2 (1939-45) the engine shed at Sprouston, officially closed since 1916, was used to store GWR City Class 4-4-0 No.3440 ‘City of Truro’; it was moved to this place of safety from York Railway Museum. Here the venerable locomotive is under a protective covering and is being shunted out of the shed.
Photo from R W Lynn collection 1863 OS 1:2,500 map. Sprouston station is close to the eastern edge of the village of this name and south-west of a level crossing. The station building is shown on the up (north-west, Berwick-bound) platform with a waiting shed opposite on the down platform. A goods warehouse is shown behind the north-eastern end of the up platform. A two-road ‘Coal and Lime Depot’ is also located on the up side of the line.
1898 OS 1: 2,500 map. This map shows the engine shed adjacent to the coal and lime depot (named on the 1863 map). Although the original engine shed was constructed in 1863 it was not shown on that year’s map, and the shed shown here replaced the storm-damaged first shed. The first signal box is shown (but not named) immediately west of the level crossing on the up (north-west) side of the tracks. The first terrace of railway cottages, constructed c1860s is close to the crossing.
1921 OS 1:2,500 map. The most significant change is the provision of a second row of railway cottages on the down side of the tracks, south-west of the first row. The signal box built in 1912 is indicated immediately north-east of the crossing on the down side; it replaced the original box on the opposite side of the tracks. The coal and lime depot is not named but the weigh office (‘W.M.’ = weighing machine) is labelled at the south-western end of the depot. The engine shed (not named) with the single railway track extending through it closed in 1916 but would remain in place until the mid 1960s.
Sprouston station looking north-east c1950 from the up platform. The stationmaster’s house and offices are left foreground, and beyond are the water column and tank. The waiting shed on the down platform is of NER provenance and has a masonry front to the enclosed section. The two terraces of railway staff cottages are to the right of the level crossing. They are of distinctly different design: the nearer terrace, built of brick c1900, is substantially taller than the older row beyond which it partly conceals.
Photo from John Mann collection Sprouston station looking north-east on 26 April 1952. The substantial buildings on the left (up) platform combine the stationmaster’s two-storey house and single-storey offices. Beyond the end of this platform the water tank, water column and disused engine shed are visible. The station is lit by oil and elegant, post-mounted lanterns can be seen on both platforms. In the distance, beyond the down platform, are the c1900 terrace of railway staff cottages, the signal box and the level crossing.
Photo by J W Armstrong from Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust Sprouston station looking north-east on 14 March 1955. By this date the station has been earmarked for closure to passengers, and this would take effect a little under four months later. The station appears well maintained and its buildings and fittings can be enjoyed on this well-composed photograph.
Photo by C J B Sanderson from the Armstrong Railway Photographic Trust collection On an unknown date in the 1950s or early 1960s a BR 2MT 2-6-0 is on shunting duties at Sprouston station. The former engine shed is to the right.
Photo from Alan Young collection The former single-road engine shed at Sprouston looking north in August 1959. This brick building replaced an earlier timber shed that collapsed during a gale on 14 October 1881. It would stand for a few more years and is understood to have been demolished at some point between 1964 and 1968. The water tank creeps into this view, left foreground.
Photo by R S Carpenter
Looking south-west towards Sprouston station and goods yard from the level crossing in August 1964. The engine shed seen on the right has been devoid of a shed road for many years. The goods dock with side and end loading is seen between the shed and the water tank. The siding to the right of the goods shed ran alongside another dock. The water tank would be removed with a year - see picture below.
Photo from Roger Griffiths collection Looking north-east at Sprouston, with the disused passenger station immediately behind the camera. The tracks are rusty, suggesting that the photo dates from late summer 1965, several months after the line closed to all traffic. The signal box closed in March 1965, and the cabin (right of the tracks, beside the crossing) has been demolished leaving only the brick base and chimneystack. In the foreground is the brick plinth that formerly carried the water tank. A corner of the disused engine shed is seen beyond it. The two rows of railway staff cottages are right of the tracks; the more distant terrace (thought to date from the 1860s) is stone built and the taller, brick-built block was constructed c1900. Since the picture above, taken in August 1964, the sidings have been lifted and the points replaced with new track.
Photo by Morrison Halbert from Roy Lambeth collection / ARPT collection Although closed to passengers since 1955, this south-westward view - possibly in late summer 1965, several months after complete closure of the branch from Tweedmouth to Kelso – shows Sprouston station’s platforms and buildings extant; only the removal of platform lamps indicates that passenger trains no longer call here. The generously sized building on the right (up) platform is of uncoursed stone and combines a two-storey stationmaster’s house with offices and other facilities in the two flanking single-storey wings. The overhanging roofs at the two levels create a pleasing, balanced elevation to the buildings. The far more modest waiting shed on the down platform is almost concealed from view. The goods yard at Sprouston remained in use until January 1965; since June 1964 it had been an unstaffed public siding.
Photo by Morrison Halbert from Roy Lambeth collection / ARPT collection Click here for Sprouston Station Gallery 2: |