Durham (Gilesgate) railway station

Durham (Gilesgate) railway station (when in passenger use known simply as Durham and later also as Durham Goods) served the Gilesgate area of Durham City in County Durham, North East England from 1844 to 1857 as the terminus of the Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railway Durham Branch passenger service (later to be incorporated into the Leamside line). Its life as a passenger station was short and it was quickly converted to goods station, a role which it played for more than a century.[1]

Durham (Gilesgate)
The site of the station in 2005
General information
LocationGilesgate, County Durham
England
Coordinates54°46′43″N 1°33′47″W / 54.7787°N 1.563°W / 54.7787; -1.563
Grid referenceNZ282427
Platforms1
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyNewcastle and Darlington Junction Railway
Pre-groupingNorth Eastern Railway
Post-groupingLNER
British Rail (North Eastern)
Key dates
15 April 1844 (1844-04-15)Opened
1 April 1857Closed to passengers
17 November 1966 (1966-11-17)Closed completely

History

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The station opened on 15 April 1844 by the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway. It was adjacent to Gilesgate and Station Lane. This was the second of four railway stations built to serve Durham City, the first being Shincliffe (later being renamed Shincliffe Town) on the Durham & Sunderland Railway. Due to the inconvenient site of the station, it had a short lifespan, only being open for 13 years before closing to passengers on 1 April 1857,[2] although it remained open for goods traffic. In the 1898 map the station was called Durham and Belmont - Goods Trains and in the 1913 Railway Clearing House map it was referred to as Durham Goods. There was a trainshed to the southeast of the platform with a pair of carriage sidings. A wooden goods shed joined the trainshed and had one single line going into it. Kepier Colliery was nearby which closed in the 1920s. The station closed to goods traffic on 17 November 1966 and the tracks were quickly lifted. The station building is now a Travelodge.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Disused Stations: Durham Gilesgate". Disused Stations. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  2. ^ Quick, M E (2002). Railway passenger stations in England, Scotland and Wales - a chronology. Richmond: Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 164. OCLC 931112387.
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Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Terminus   Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railway
Durham Branch
  Belmont
Line and station closed