Beamish railway station explained

Beamish
Status:Disused
Borough:Beamish, County Durham
Country:England
Coordinates:54.8769°N -1.6526°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Original:North Eastern Railway
Pregroup:North Eastern Railway
Events:Opened
Years1:21 September 1953
Events1:Closed to passengers
Events2:Closed to goods

Beamish was a railway station which served the village of Beamish in County Durham, North East England, from 1894 to 1953. The station was built by the North Eastern Railway on the Beamish Deviation Line off of the earlier Stanhope and Tyne Railway.

History

The station opened on 1 February 1894 by the North Eastern Railway. The signal box was to the south and to the east was a goods shed with four sidings and a loading bank. Passenger numbers started to decline in the 1920s when bus services were introduced. This led to the station closing on 21 September 1953.[1] It remained open to goods until 2 August 1960. The station itself was demolished but the signal box remained until 1982. After it was demolished, the signal box from was dismantled and installed at the nearby Beamish Museum.[2]

Accident

On 9 December 1964, twenty three coal wagons uncoupled from a shunter and ran down the line until colliding with another goods train. This resulted in one death and the line being blocked for several days. Sixty men had to work on cleaning up the debris while the trains were diverted via .

Notes and References

  1. Book: Quick, M E. Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales - a chronology. 2002. Railway and Canal Historical Society. Richmond. 69. 931112387.
  2. Web site: Beamish. A History of the Tyne Dock To Consett Railway. 7 January 2021.