Barnard Castle railway station

Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle railway station in 1953
General information
LocationBarnard Castle
England
Grid referenceNZ053169
Other information
StatusDisused
Key dates
9 July 18561st station opened
1 May 18621st station closed
1965Closed to freight
30 November 19642nd station closed

Barnard Castle railway station was situated on the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway (Stainmore Line) between Bishop Auckland and Kirkby Stephen East. The railway station served the town of Barnard Castle.

The first station (at grid reference NZ053169) was opened on the Darlington and Barnard Castle Railway on 9 July 1856, and was closed to passengers on 1 May 1862 when services were diverted to the second station on the South Durham & Lancashire Railway which had opened in 1861. Freight traffic continued to use the first station until 1965.

Despite being a junction station for three lines, Barnard Castle only had one through platform and two bay platforms.[1]

Barnard Castle railway station in 1965

Regular passenger services to Tebay ceased in 1952, with the remainder of the Stainmore Line to Bishop Auckland and Kirkby Stephen East shutting in 1962. The station remained in use for the lines to Darlington and Middleton-in-Teesdale until 1964 when it was shut as the result of the Beeching Axe.

Today the site of the second station is a car park for the nearby GlaxoSmithKline factory. The first station has been converted into private houses[2] and the first station's portico now resides in Valley Gardens in Saltburn.[3]

  1. ^ David St John Thomas & Patrick Whitehouse, The Great Days of the Country Railway, Newton Abbot 1986, p. 162
  2. ^ "Portico particulars". The Northern Echo. 8 September 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  3. ^ chris.twigg (10 August 2011). "Hidden Teesside - Barnard Castle Station Portico, Valley Gardens, Saltburn". Hidden Teesside. Retrieved 17 June 2023.