Station Name: TYNEMOUTH (Newcastle & Berwick)

[Source: Alan Young]


Date opened: 29.3.1847
Location: West side of Oxford Street, a short distance south of the junction with Tynemouth Road
Company on opening: Newcastle & Berwick Railway
Date closed to passengers: 3.7.1882
Date closed completely: 2.3.1959
Company on closing:

Passengers: North Eastern Railway.
Goods: British Railways (North Eastern Region)

Present state: Building remains as a private residence
County: Northumberland
OS Grid Ref:

NZ368691

Date of visit: December 1987

Notes: This station was the terminus of an extension beyond the [North] Shields terminus which had opened in 1839. It was designed by Benjamin Green and strongly resembled the series of excellent stations of Tudor-Jacobean style that he produced for the Newcastle & Berwick main line. The station had two platforms, and the building stood across their eastern end. It contained the stationmaster’s accommodation and the offices. Entry to the booking hall was through a Gothic portico beneath a projecting centre gable. The platforms were open to the elements until the 1860s when glazed ridge-and-furrow roofing was added by the North Eastern Railway, presumably to compete with the standard of comfort offered by the new, adjoining Blyth & Tyne Railway terminus. A railway hotel was constructed beside the departure (south) platform by 1850.


1849 York Newcastle & Berwick timetable. Click for cover

When the palatial through-station was opened in 1882 the 1847 terminus closed to passengers, but it had a long life ahead as one of Tynemouth’s goods stations. The station building was retained and converted into two dwellings.

The hotel continued in use for some time despite its proximity to goods sidings, but after it closed it was used as offices. The structure eventually fell derelict, and was demolished in the 1980s. It has been replaced with a housing development.

Source: A history of North Eastern Railway architecture (Volume 1) Fawcett, Bill   (NERA 2001). Timetable from Alan Young

See also: Tynemouth (Blyth & Tyne 3rd station) & Tynemouth (through station)


Tynemouth (N&B) station, looking east c1880. The station is spacious and well appointed, with its elegant main building beyond the buffer stops and Royal Hotel to its right. The three platforms all have partial covering by glazed ridge-and-furrow verandahs; when the station closed in 1882 these found a new home at Cullercoats station. Left of centre, two non-platform roads are provided for engine movements and stabling of coaches. A turntable is provided at the far end of the platform on the left.
Photo from Colin Alexander's Flickr photostream


c1882 1:2,500 OS map. On the western approach to Tynemouth town centre two competing railways had their termini. To the north Tynemouth ‘Terminus’ (the suffix was never in its official name) was the Blyth & Tyne station – its third terminus in the town. The southern ‘Tynemouth Station’ was opened by the (York) Newcastle & Berwick Railway; this company amalgamated with others to form the North Eastern Railway in 1854. Both stations were superseded in 1882 by the passenger station which is still used by the Metro trains.

1896 1:500 OS Town Plan. This map shows the Newcastle & Berwick’s Tynemouth terminus, which closed to passengers in 1882, and additional goods and fish facilities to its south. Tynemouth (B&T 3rd) also closed in 1882 but had already been demolished when this map was surveyed: it occupied the open space and site of the curving new NER line opened in 1882 between North Shields and Tynemouth.

1898 1:2,500 OS map. The former Tynemouth passenger terminus of the Newcastle & Berwick Railway (closed 1882) can be seen. It continued to be used for goods, despite having the Royal Hotel within its site. Tynemouth (B&T 3rd) formerly occupied the open space and the siteimmediately north of the N&B station, on the opposite side of Tynemouth Road (‘Tramway’).

Tynemouth (N&B) station looking south-east on 31 December 1976. A rake of mineral wagons is on the southern track. The rear of the station building can be seen on the left.
Photo by Roger Darsley

In June 1978 the former N&B/YN&B/NER passenger terminus is remarkably well preserved though it ceased to be used as a goods station almost twenty years earlier. The former Royal Hotel is on the right and the station building is straight ahead. Sidings remain in place.
Photo by Alan Lewis from his Flickr photostream

The elegant exterior of the station is seen in June 1978; it is in residential use.
Photo by Alan Lewis from his Flickr photostream

The exterior of Tynemouth (N&B) station in December 1988, looking north-west. The high quality sandstone ashlar used in its construction can be appreciated in this photograph, as well as the pointed arches of the former entrance and the oriel window on the window above them
P
hoto by Alan Young

The exterior of Tynemouth (N&B) station in June 2011. The elegant building is well maintained and enjoys Grade II listed status.
P
hoto by Ali Ford

Detail of the windows on the exterior of Tynemouth (N&B) station in June 2011
Photo by Ali Ford

The site of the former platforms of Tynemouth (N&B) station has been infilled with housing. The back of the sandstone station building can be seen beyond the modern houses.
Photo Ali Ford

The site of the Tynemouth (N&B) platforms looking north-east in June 2011
Photo Ali Ford



 

 

 

[Source: Alan Young]




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