Backworth railway station explained

Backworth
Status:Disused
Borough:Newcastle
Country:England
Platforms:2
Original:Blyth and Tyne Railway
Pregroup:North Eastern Railway
Postgroup:London and North Eastern Railway
Years:28 August 1841
Events:B&T station opened as Holywell
Years1:April 1860
Events1:B&T station renamed Backworth
Years2:27 June 1864
Events2:B&T station closed
Years3:27 June 1864
Events3:Opened as Hotspur
Years4:June 1865
Events4:Renamed Backworth
Years5:13 June 1977
Events5:Closed

Backworth railway station served part of Newcastle in the English county of Northumberland, later part of Tyne and Wear. The station opened as Hotspur, replacing another Backworth station on the line to Morpeth which had been opened as Holywell.

History

Opened by the North Eastern Railway, then joining the London and North Eastern Railway, the station passed to the North Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The line had been electrified (as the Tyneside Electric) by the North Eastern Railway in 1904 to fight competition from the newly built electric tramways, but was de-electrified in the 1960s.

The station was then closed by the British Railways Board to enable the construction of the Tyne and Wear Metro, but was not re-opened as part of that system. Initially Shiremoor was the nearest metro station to the site until the 2005 opening of Northumberland Park.

The site today

The closest station to Backworth today is Northumberland Park on the Tyne & Wear Metro, located a short distance to the south east of the original station site. It is around a twenty-minute walk from the centre of the village.

References

External links

55.034°N -1.518°W