Newcastle railway station

Conception

A scheme for a central station was proposed by Richard Grainger and Thomas Sopwith in 1836^[7] but was not built.

The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway had agreed to relinquish their insistence on exclusively using their Redheugh terminus on the south bank of the River Tyne. They agreed with George Hudson on a general station north of the Tyne, near the Spital. Instead of crossing the Tyne by a low level bridge and climbing to the Spital by a rope-worked incline, they would build an extension crossing at Scotswood and approaching on the north bank. They opened this line and a temporary station at Forth, and passenger trains started using that on 1 March 1847.^[8]

Hudson, known as the "Railway King" was concentrating on connecting his portfolio of railways so as to join Edinburgh with the English network. His Newcastle and Berwick Railway obtained its authorising Act of Parliament in 1845, but for the time being it was to use the Newcastle and North Shields Railway's station at Carliol Square. Building a crossing of the Tyne was obviously going to be a lengthy process, so that he gave the construction of the general station a low priority. The Tyne crossing became the High Level Bridge.^[9][10]

In February 1846 the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway exerted pressure for the general station to be built, and the architect John Dobson was appointed by Hudson to design it, in association with the engineer T E Harrison, and Robert Stephenson. By now the general alignment of Hudson's railways was becoming clear: a main line from the south via Gateshead would approach over the High Level Bridge and enter the general station from the east; the Newcastle and Berwick line would be extended from Carliol Square and also enter from the east; through trains from London to Scotland would reverse in the new station. Newcastle and Carlisle Railway trains would of course enter from the west.^[9][10]

A definite design

The exterior of the station in 1867.

Dobson produced general plans for the station, now being referred to as the Central station, on a broad curve to front Neville Street so as to accommodate the alignment of the approaching railways at east and west. It was to a "Romano-Italien design with ornamental work of the Doric order".^[11] Two through platform lines were shown, with three west end bays and two at the east end. There were to be three trainshed roofs with spans of 60 feet. Extensive offices as well as refreshment facilities were shown, and there was to be a covered carriage drive on the Neville Street side extending from the porte-cochère at each end.

On 7 August 1847 a contract was let for the main part of the work to Mackay and Blackstock, for £92,000 (equivalent to £7,720,000 in 2016).^[12] A considerable amount of groundworks was necessary on the large site prior to the actual building work.^[9]

The work did not progress speedily, and in 1849 Hudson's collection of railway companies suffered a financial shock. At a time of more difficult trading and a tighter money market, Hudson's personal dealings were exposed as shady. The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway had been formed by merger of the previous smaller companies, and the YN&BR wished to reduce the financial commitment to the Central Station substantially; hotel accommodation and the covered carriage drive were eliminated. One of the through platforms was also removed from the plan.^[9]

As built the site covered three acres and the length of the platform faces was 830 yards.^[11]

Inaugurated by the Queen

The trainshed soon after opening.

The trainshed proved faster to construct and on 29 August 1850 Queen Victoria visited the station by train and formally opened it. The following day YN&BR trains were diverted into it.^{[note 1]}

The trainshed was, jointly with the Lime Street station in Liverpool, the first to be designed and built in Britain using curved wrought iron ribs to support an arched roof. The large section of the ribs was fabricated using curved web plates specially rolled using bevelled rolls; the novel technique was created by Thomas Charlton of Hawks Crawshay, and was estimated to have saved 14% on the cost of the roof ironwork, compared with cutting rectilinear plates to the curve.^[9]

The station was lit by gas; a demonstration of electric arc-lighting was made, but was not at that date a practical possibility for the large station space. The platforms were positioned 15 inches above rail level.

The station was shared from the beginning by the Newcastle and North Shields Railway, which abandoned its earlier terminus at Carliol Square to the east which had operated since 1839. The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway started using Central station from 1 January 1851, and also abandoned its earlier terminus at Forth.^[13]

In 1861 the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway had already merged with others to form the North Eastern Railway, and now it was desired to amalgamate with the Newcastle and Berwick Railway too. The Corporation of Newcastle used the opportunity of the necessary Parliamentary Bill for the amalgamation to insist on construction of the abandoned porte-cochère, and this was designed by Thomas Prosser and completed in 1863.^[14]

Expansion of the station

In the 1860s the passenger train service was increasing considerably, especially as branch lines opened, six platforms were increased to nine in 1871 and to twelve in 1877, and then to fifteen in 1894: an additional through island platform was provided in 1871, occupying space formerly in use for stabling carriages. Increase in traffic continued, as also increasing train lengths and it was clear that a major extension of the station was essential. Newcastle had been given city status in 1882 and was supportive of the work, seeing it as a civic improvement. Forth Street was displaced southwards and two new trainshed roofs covered a southward extension of the station; in addition a large expansion to the east took place, with additional bay platforms there on the north side of the former bays. The original through track was blocked to form east and west bays, so that there were still only three through platform lines. This work was completed in 1894.^[9][13]

The new group of bay platforms at the east end had their own concourse quadrangle, known at the time as the "Tynemouth Square". There was a separate booking hall for those local services. At this stage the roof covered seven and a half acres in area; there were fifteen platforms with a length of 3,000 yards.^[11]

Killingworth Billy

In 1901 an early steam locomotive was on display at the station; :

[The station] is further graced by a pedestal on which stands a curious old locomotive rejoicing in the name of "Billy". The true early history of "Billy" is well-nigh veiled in the mists of antiquity, and it was only by diligent enquiry that Mr Holliday, the Station Master, was able to learn a little of her antecedents. That "she" was constructed as far back as 1824 – 1826 is however certain, and on that score alone she is entitled to an introduction to such of the readers of the Railway Magazine as have until now been unaware of her existence. For about fifty-five years (until 1879) she performed good service, first at the Springwell, and latterly at the Killingworth colliery, from which place she actually steamed into Newcastle in 1881 to celebrate George Stephenson’s Centenary.^[11]

An image of the locomotive in Bywell's article is captioned "Puffing billy" but it is not Puffing Billy of 1814, which is currently on display at the Science Museum in London.

The locomotive in Bywell's article is known simply as Billy (Built in 1826) It was presented to Newcastle upon Tyne Corporation for preservation in 1881. Initially it was displayed on a plinth at the north end of the High Level Bridge, but was moved to the interior of Newcastle Central Station in 1896; it remained there until 1945, when it was moved to the city's Museum of Science and Industry; it was moved again in 1981 to the Stephenson Railway Museum in nearby North Shields, where it is still on display.^[15]

The early history of the locomotive is uncertain; it is probably a George Stephenson locomotive, and was probably built at Killingworth Colliery workshops around 1815-1820.^[16]

The twentieth century

Railways between Newcastle and Gateshead
East Coast Main Line to Morpeth Tyne and Wear Metro to Monument Manors Central Station Tyne Valley Line to Scotswood Newcastle King Edward VII Bridge High Level Bridge River Tyne QEII Metro Bridge Gateshead Tyne Valley Line to MetroCentre Gateshead Interchange East Coast Main Line to Durham Durham Coast Line to Heworth Tyne and Wear Metro to Gateshead Stadium

In 1900 the North Eastern Railway started replacing the gas lighting in the station with electric arc equipment. Further use of electricity came from 1904 when several suburban lines were electrified using the third rail system, to form the Tyneside Electrics system, electric trains were introduced, using Central Station from 1 July 1904. The tracks on platforms 1 to 6 were equipped with electrified third rails, and platform 7 was later electrified to handle electric trains to South Shields.^[13]

Another major development came on 1 October 1906 when the King Edward VII Bridge was opened, crossing the Tyne to the south-west of the station: Since 1850 East Coast Main Line trains had entered Newcastle from the south via the High Level Bridge to the south-east, this meant however that they had to reverse in order to continue their journey, which lengthened journey times and led to congestion at the busy junction east of the station. The four-track King Edward Bridge remedied this by allowing north-south trains to leave or enter from either side of the station. The triangular junction at the Gateshead side also allowed for greater flexibility, allowing trains from Sunderland to use the new bridge if necessary.^[13]

In 1909, Central station became Newcastle's only major city-centre station when the former Blyth and Tyne Railway's terminus at Newcastle New Bridge Street was closed, and its trains diverted to Central station via a new connection to Manors station.^[13]

Metro station

The Tyne and Wear Metro system opened in 1980, taking over and improving many of the Tyneside suburban routes that had declined under British Railways management. The underground Central Station for Metro trains was constructed during the late 1970s underneath the main line station, and opened in 1981. Part of the porte-cochère was temporarily dismantled while excavation work took place.^[17] The Metro system was a considerable success; Many conventional rail services were transferred there, and several of the east end bays were closed and converted to car parking and other usage. The Carlisle line was diverted to enter Newcastle over the King Edward Bridge of 1906, and a large out-of-town shopping development, the "Metro Centre", was opened with a station on that line. The changing pattern of railway services meant that terminating trains were significantly fewer and through trains had increased. The emphasis on bay platforms at the station was no longer appropriate.

The opportunity was taken in conjunction with the East Coast Main Line electrification scheme, inaugurated in 1991, to extend the station southwards to provide more through platforms; this encroached on to land occupied by through tracks earlier used by goods trains but seeing little of that class of traffic by now. A new island platform was provided encompassing the southern wall of the station; the two platform faces are divided so as to provide four numbered platforms, 5 to 8, generally used for local trains.^[9]

The eastern approach to the station in 1960, viewed from The Castle

A similar view in 2005. The station was reduced in size after the Metro replaced suburban heavy rail services.

Station Masters

London North Eastern Railway

London North Eastern Railway provides high-speed inter-city services southbound every half hour to London (one fast, one semi-fast) as well as 3 trains per 2 hours continue northbound into Scotland. One service is also provided each evening Monday - Friday from Newcastle to Sunderland.^[22]

• northbound to Edinburgh Waverley calling at Berwick-upon-Tweed. Extra services at peak times to Edinburgh only also call at Morpeth, Alnmouth and Dunbar. At weekends, all daytime services arriving from London continue to Edinburgh.
  • 4 services are extended daily to Aberdeen
  • 1 service is extended daily to Glasgow Central
  • 1 service is extended daily to Inverness
  • 1 service is extended daily to Stirling
• southbound to London King's Cross;
  • 1 semi-fast service calling at Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Doncaster, Newark North Gate, Peterborough and other stations on the ECML at peak times with a journey time of approximately 3 hours 20 minutes.
  • 1 fast service calling at Darlington and York only with a journey time of 2 hours 50 minutes.
  • Additional services operate between Edinburgh-Newcastle/York and between Newcastle-York.

Rolling stock used: Inter-City 225 (Class 91 electric locomotive and DVT) and Inter-City 125 (HST)

CrossCountry

CrossCountry provides a number of services north into Scotland, supplementing London North Eastern Railway services, and southbound there are at least 2 trains per hour to the CrossCountry hub at Birmingham from where they are extended towards the South West and South Coast.^[23]

• northbound to Glasgow Central and Aberdeen (at alternate hours) via Edinburgh Waverley calling at most stations en route.
• southbound to the South West of England calling at Durham, Darlington, York, Leeds, Wakefield Westgate, Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby, Burton-on-Trent, Birmingham New Street, Cheltenham Spa, Bristol Parkway and Bristol Temple Meads. Daytime services may also extend as far as Exeter St Davids, Plymouth or Penzance.
• southbound to Reading calling at Durham, Darlington, York, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham New Street, Leamington Spa, Banbury, Oxford and Reading. Services are extended daily to either Guildford or Southampton Central.

Rolling stock used: Class 220, Class 221 'Voyager' diesel multiple units and Inter-City 125 (HST)

TransPennine Express

Newcastle is a terminus for TransPennine Express providing services to Manchester/Liverpool via Leeds (though some services will be extended through to Edinburgh from December 2019 as part of the new TPE franchise agreement).^[24]

With the electrification of the Manchester to Liverpool Line, from May 2014 a new timetable was introduced which is made up an hourly express service between Newcastle and Liverpool via Leeds and Manchester reducing journey times to Liverpool to 3 hours as part of the Northern Hub scheme.^[25] Services to Manchester Airport now mainly operate in the early morning/late evening (but will become hourly all day from December 2017). Services to Leeds/York are also supplemented by London North Eastern Railway and CrossCountry.

• southbound to Liverpool Lime Street calling at Chester-le-Street, Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester Victoria.
• southbound to Manchester Airport calling at Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Leeds, Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Manchester Piccadilly.

Rolling stock used: Class 185 "Pennine" diesel multiple units

Northern

Northern provides a number of commuter and regional services :^[26]

• northbound on the East Coast Main Line to Cramlington and Morpeth with services extended to Chathill at peak hours.
• southbound along the Durham Coast Line to Middlesbrough calling at Heworth, Sunderland, Seaham, Hartlepool, Seaton Carew, Billingham, Stockton and Thornaby. Extended most hours to Nunthorpe in order to serve the new railway station at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough.
• westbound on the Tyne Valley Line to Carlisle calling at MetroCentre, Prudhoe, Hexham, Haydon Bridge, Haltwhistle, Brampton and others at alternate hours.
• westbound slow service on the Tyne Valley Line to Hexham calling at Dunston, MetroCentre, Blaydon, Wylam, Prudhoe, Stocksfield, Riding Mill, Corbridge and terminating at Hexham. Extended to Carlisle at peak hours.
• 1 train per hour operates between Newcastle and Metro Centre calling at Dunston only during the day.

Some services on the Tyne Valley line extend beyond Carlisle, including one service to Whitehaven and three services to Glasgow Central via the Glasgow South Western Line. The Glasgow services are operated using Abellio ScotRail Class 156s, but operate as Northern services with Northern crew between Newcastle and Carlisle.

Rolling stock used: Sprinter (Class 156) and Pacer (Class 142) diesel multiple units

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Durham		CrossCountry Cross Country Route		Morpeth
				Terminus
Chester-le-Street		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Terminus
Edinburgh Waverley		London North Eastern Railway Flying Scotsman		London King's Cross
Darlington		London North Eastern Railway London-Edinburgh/Scotland express		Berwick-upon-Tweed
Durham or Darlington		London North Eastern Railway London-Newcastle/Edinburgh		Terminus
				Alnmouth or Morpeth or Berwick-upon-Tweed or Edinburgh Waverley
Darlington		London North Eastern Railway Leeds-Aberdeen		Berwick-upon-Tweed
Durham		London North Eastern Railway London-Sunderland		Sunderland
Heworth		Northern Durham Coast Line		Terminus
Terminus		Northern East Coast Main Line		Cramlington
Terminus		Northern East Coast Main Line		Manors
Chester-le-Street		Northern East Coast Main Line		Terminus
Terminus		Northern Tyne Valley Line		Dunston
Terminus		Northern Tyne Valley Line		MetroCentre
	Future Services
York		East Coast Trains East Coast Main Line London – Edinburgh		Morpeth

East Coast Trains

In May 2016 ORR gave the green light to a new operator called East Coast Trains which would operate services to Edinburgh Waverley via Stevenage, York, Newcastle & Morpeth. The operation would begin operation in 2021.^[27][28][29]

Proposed service to Ashington

Since the 1990s local councils have considered the feasibility of restoring passenger services linking Ashington and Blyth with Newcastle.^[30] The proposal would not include serving Blyth not by reopening the branch to Blyth, but by building a new station at Newsham. In 1998 the Railway Development Society (renamed Railfuture in 2000) endorsed the proposal.^[30]

Denis Murphy, the Labour MP for Wansbeck, expressed support in the House of Commons in an adjournment debate in April 1999 and again in a debate in January 2007.^[31]

In 2009 the Association of Train Operating Companies published a £34 million proposal to restore passenger services from Newcastle to Ashington.^[32]

Northumberland County Council is currently developing plans aimed at restoring passenger services along the remaining freight-only section of the former Blyth and Tyne Railway between Benton Junction and new station at Woodhorn, to the east of Ashington. In June 2013 NCC announced that they had commissioned Network Rail to complete a GRIP 1 study to examine the best options for the scheme.^[33] The GRIP 1 study was received by NCC in March 2014 and in June 2015 they initiated a more detailed GRIP 2 Feasibility Study at a cost of £850,000.^[34]

The GRIP 2 study, which NCC received in October 2016, confirmed that the reintroduction of a frequent seven-day a week passenger service between Newcastle and Ashington was feasible and could provide economic benefits of £70 million with more than 380,000 people using the line each year by 2034.^[35] The scheme would involve the construction of new or reopened stations at Northumberland Park (for interchange with the Tyne and Wear Metro), either Seghill or Seaton Delaval, Newsham, Blyth Park & Ride, Bedlington, Ashington and Woodhorn (for the Woodhorn Museum and Northumberland Archives) with a potential end to end journey time of 37 minutes.^[36] If funding for the £191 million^[35] scheme can be raised, it has been suggested that detailed design work could begin in October 2018 with construction commencing four months later and the first passenger services introduced in 2021.^[35]

After receiving the GRIP 2 study, NCC announced that they were preceding with a GRIP 3 Study from Network Rail.^[37]

Sources

• "Property History : (004510030492) Newcastle Central Station, Neville Street, Newcastle upon Tyne". Newcastle City Council. Archived from the original on 16 November 2013.
• Addyman, John; Fawcett, Bill (1999). The High Level Bridge and Newcastle Central Station. North Eastern Railway Association. ISBN 1 873513 28 3.
• Addyman, John, ed. (2011). A History of the Newcastle & Berwick Railway. North Eastern Railway Association. ISBN 978 1 873513 75 0.
• Dobson, John (1848). "The Central Railway Station, Newcastle-upon-Tyne". The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal. 11. pp.353-4, plate XIII.
• Dobson, John (1849). "The Central Railway Station, Newcastle-upon-Tyne". The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal. 12. p.97, plate VI.
• Grainger, Richard (1836). A Proposal for Concentrating the Termini of the Newcastle & Carlisle, Great North of England & proposed Edinburgh Railways. Hodgson. A short pamphlet plus fold-out map. The original from which reference has been made is in the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. It is reference Tracts vol 57 p200ff This contains contemporary information about the early period of railway activity in Newcastle/Gateshead.
• Historic England. "Motorail Terminal, Neville Street (1326654)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
• Historic England. "1, Neville Street (1024814)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
• Historic England. "Irving House (1121977)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
• Historic England. "Station Hotel (1104900)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 November 2013.