Middleton-in-Teesdale railway station

Middleton-in-Teesdale
General information
LocationMiddleton-in-Teesdale
England
Other information
StatusDisused
Key dates
12 May 1868Opened
30 November 1964Closed
Location

Middleton-in-Teesdale railway station was the terminus of the Tees Valley Railway from Barnard Castle. The station opened in May 1868, closing to all traffic in 1965.

History

The station served the town of Middleton-in-Teesdale. The station opened to passenger traffic on 12 May 1868.[1] It closed for passengers on 30 November 1964 and freight traffic on 5 April 1965.[2] Until June 1894, the station was simply called Middleton, but a name change was instigated to differentiate it from the other stations on the network called Middleton.[3]

Apart from Barnard Castle station, all other stations on the line were in the North Riding of Yorkshire, including Middleton-in-Teesdale which was 0.25 miles (0.40 km) south of the town itself.[4] The town is on the north side of the River Tees placing it in County Durham.[5][6][7] The railway company decided to build the station on the south side of the River Tees as they had already spent over £5,000 each on the viaducts over the rivers Lune and Balder on the line. Additionally, all the quarries were located on the south side of the river.[8] The quarries despatched loads of roadstone, building stone, and barytes, whilst lead from the surrounding hills was also carried.[9][10] Although the station was the terminus of the line, a junction just south of the station allowed a freight-only line to bypass the station area and proceed northwards up the valley for another 2 miles (3.2 km) to another quarry at Holwick Scar.[11] The discovery of ironstone in the surrounding hills led to suggestions of extending the line up the valley from Middleton as a through route to Alston. The Midland Railway also showed interest in extending the line to Appleby-in-Westmorland.[12][13]

When the station opened, it was furnished with a 45-foot (14 m) turntable, but an engine shed was not built until March 1869.[14] The single-road engine shed was located on the south side of the station.[15] The shed was closed in 1957 when DMUs took over operating the line, and then the building was demolished in 1961.[16][17] The stationmaster's house was built with the station, but the ancillary buildings such as waiting rooms, were not constructed until 1888–1889.[18] The station had just the one platform on the eastern side.[19]

The railway clearing house from 1904 lists the station as being able to handle goods, cattle, horse-boxes, passengers, furniture vans and parcels. Besides the station goods yard, other goods terminals listed were for Co-Op, a sawmill, two quarries and a whinstone operation.[20]

In the early hours of 31 January 2018, the former station house suffered serious structural damage in a fire, which was alleged to be the result of arson.[21]

References

  1. ^ Emett, Charlie (1999). Durham railways. Stroud: Sutton. p. 60. ISBN 0750920769.
  2. ^ Holland, Julian (2010). The lost lines of Britain: a nostalgic trip along Britain's lost railways featuring railway walks and cycle paths. Basingstoke: AA. p. 180. ISBN 978--07495-6630-2.
  3. ^ Lloyd, Chris (18 May 2018). "The day rail came to Teesdale - 150 years ago". Darlington and Stockton Times. Retrieved 14 September 2025.
  4. ^ Groundwater, Ken; Robinson, Peter J. (1987). Past & present No. 4; the North-East. Kettering: Silver Link. p. 89. ISBN 0947971173.
  5. ^ Burgess, Neil (2011). The lost railways of Yorkshire's North Riding. Catrine: Stenlake. p. 6. ISBN 9781840335552.
  6. ^ Chrystal, Paul (2017). The Place Names of Yorkshire; Cities, Towns, Villages, Rivers and Dales, some Pubs too, in Praise of Yorkshire Ales. Catrine: Stenlake. p. 100. ISBN 9781840337532.
  7. ^ Plumb, Geoff M. (2017). British Railways in the 1960s. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. p. 93. ISBN 9781473823938.
  8. ^ Lloyd, Chris (12 September 2025). "Looking back". Darlington & Stockton Times. No. 2025–37. p. 29. ISSN 2516-5348.
  9. ^ Hoole, Kenneth (1985). Railway stations of the North East. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. p. 177. ISBN 0-7153-8527-5.
  10. ^ Hoole, Kenneth (1986). A regional history of the railways of Great Britain, volume 4: the North East (3 ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. p. 136. ISBN 0-9465-3731-3.
  11. ^ Stobbs, Allan (1989). Memories of the L.N.E.R. : South-west Durham. Penrith: Stobbs. p. 48. ISBN 0951533002.
  12. ^ "New ironstone beds in Durham". The Mining Journal. 39 (1, 787). London: Henry English: 875. 20 November 1869. ISSN 0026-5225. OCLC 299892211.
  13. ^ "Railway Matters". The Engineer. 38. London: Morgan Brothers: 479. 11 December 1874. ISSN 0013-7758. OCLC 1567893.
  14. ^ Addeyman, John F., ed. (2020). North Eastern Railway Engine Sheds. North Eastern Railway Association. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-911360-26-1.
  15. ^ Smith, Paul (1990). The handbook of British Railways steam motive power depots Vol. 3: North Midlands, Lancashire & Yorkshire. Sheffield: Platform 5. p. 97. ISBN 1872524052.
  16. ^ Holland, Julian (2010). The lost lines of Britain: a nostalgic trip along Britain's lost railways featuring railway walks and cycle paths. Basingstoke: AA. p. 179. ISBN 978--07495-6630-2.
  17. ^ Plumb, Geoff M. (2017). British Railways in the 1960s. Barnsley: Pen and Sword. p. 94. ISBN 9781473823938.
  18. ^ Hoole, K. (1984). North-Eastern branch lines : past and present. Oxford: Oxford Publishing Company. p. 22. ISBN 0-8609-3189-7.
  19. ^ Hoole, Ken (1985). North Eastern branch line termini. Poole: Oxford Publishing Company. p. 83. ISBN 0-86093-219-2.
  20. ^ The Railway Clearing House (London) handbook of railway stations. 1904. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. 1970 [1904]. p. 371. ISBN 0-7153-5120-6.
  21. ^ MacFarlane, Katie (7 March 2018). "Arrest for arson at Dale View Caravan Park, Middleton-in-Teesdale". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 10 April 2018.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Middleton-in-Teesdale railway station.


Preceding station Disused railways Following station
Mickleton   Tees Valley Railway   Terminus

54°37′07″N 2°05′02″W / 54.6186°N 2.0839°W / 54.6186; -2.0839

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