North Road railway station


North Road railway station, also known as North Road on some station announcements and departure boards, serves the northern areas of Darlington and parts of southern County Durham, England. The station is on the Bishop Auckland branch of the Tees Valley Line north of the main station and is operated by Northern Trains which provides all passenger train services on this line.

History

The station is closely linked with the history of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, being the site of the original Darlington station. The station building, now the Darlington Railway Centre and Museum, was first opened in 1842 and is listed Grade II*. It replaced a depot on the opposite side of North Road, built in 1833. The building was constructed to a design by the S&D resident engineer of the time John Harris and was expanded and rebuilt on several subsequent occasions.
The opening of the main line station at Bank Top in 1887 saw the importance of North Road decline and it was twice threatened with closure in the 20th century, but was reprieved each time. The closure of the Stainmore route to in 1962 and the Middleton-in-Teesdale branch line two years later did see the route through here reduced to single track and by the early 1970s, the train shed had suffered badly from vandalism and was in a poor state of repair. This prompted the local council, the town's tourist board, Darlington Museums service and a consortium of local people to join together to restore the station and Hopetown works complex nearby as a museum, whilst maintaining a single active platform for the Bishop Auckland branch line. This work was completed in time for the 150th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1975, with the opening ceremony carried out by the Duke of Edinburgh.
Trains do not however stop under the train shed roof, instead using the eastern end of the platform in the open air.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed and has no ticketing provision, so all tickets must be bought on the train or prior to travel. A Harrington Hump has been installed to improve accessibility to the trains for mobility-impaired passengers and the waiting shelter here was replaced in 2015 as part of the Tees Valley line improvement programme - this also saw the installation of a digital CIS display, new signage and CCTV. Train running information is also available via a public telephone and timetable posters. The station is not listed as suitable for wheelchair users on the National Rail website due to the approach path being steeply graded.

Services

There is a basic hourly service in each direction from the station all through the week. These trains are run by Northern Trains. Eastbound trains continue to and.