Tynemouth Station

[Percy Main]

What were the north bay platforms at Tynemouth used for?

[redtoon1892]

Consult Humphrey Households book With The L.N.E.R. In The Twenties, I have this book but not to hand, its a first rate account of freight operations at this station where Mr Household was the goods booking clerk.

http://openlibrary.org/b/OL2282223M/Wit ... e_twenties

http://www.nenevalley-railwaybooks.co.u ... 04847.html

It was a very important local station those days and handled a vast amount of goods, I wonder where if any the coal drops were?, most stations had them. On the South side the drops were alongside Davy Roll which served Gateshead, there were also drops at Felling, at Pelaw and Jarrow the coal was shovelled out of the trucks rather than dropped, cant place any coal yard at South Shields station although South Shields had a fair sized goods yard and a turntable. Maybe the merchants collected straight from the colliery ?.

[52D]

Could the North bay platform have anything to do with the line that was half built then taken up. Was it the Colleywell branch?

[BlythStationLad]

You mean Collywell Bay, and no it didn't. That 'line that never was' fed off the Blyth & Tyne's Avenue branch a few miles north of Tynemouth. Could it have been a parcels bay in the early days? I don't think it was officially used as a passenger platform.

[limitofshunt]

If I remember correctly, the coal depot at Tynemouth was slightly to the west of the current one and was accessed by a junction south of the station. I think this might have been the original station before the coast line was realigned by the NER (after the coast loop was completed - the original Tynemouth terminal station is further south still of both sites.)

Hopefully this Google map link will work! Tynemouth station can be seen just to the right of centre in the image. Following the tracks towards the bottom of the picture, just before they pass under the first road bridge, a disused track can be seen to diverge towards the left, passing under another bridge and then heading northwards. The depot was to the south of this, accessed via a headshunt.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 8&t=k&z=17

The attached OS map extract shows the position of the depot and the tracks to access it. It shows the bay platforms as normal platforms, so presumably for passenger services?

Tynemouth Station from a historic OS map (1940s-50s)

Regards
Jon

[third-rail]

the oxford street site was also used as a coal depot in later days which was the terminus of the newcastle and north shields railway, the original station building survives as housing ,the other sidings to the west were also used as a coal yard [next to northumberland park] was the blyth and tyne tynemouth terminus which ran to monkseaton a1/4 to 1/2 a mile west of the present ner diversion i think there was another sta on the present site of the ta depot b&t??? .i believe there was also a turntable in that triangle by tynemouth south sb

[PinzaC55]

The north bays were used for trains to Blyth via the Avenue Branch (Monkseaton - Hartley) and electric trains from Newcastle via Benton.
I have a number of photos of the station including THIS one of the NBR terminus which was used as the goods station.Search my photostream for Tynemouth to see the others.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/3708066984/

[52D]

I knew they were for some long gone service only i guessed wrong. As a matter of interest does anyone know where the turntable was located in the old station. I know there was one as its mentioned in the inquest to the Willington accident of 1853.

[Percy Main]

The north bays were used for trains to Blyth via the Avenue Branch (Monkseaton - Hartley) and electric trains from Newcastle via Benton.

That's certainly what they look as if they had been intended for, but when did this happen?

Terminating the Blyth trains at Monkseaton - where they had no separate platform - always seemed a bit of an afterthought, and running them to Tynemouth would have provided a proper 'Blyth and Tyne' service.

I know some early Riverside services terminated in the north bays, which I can also remember being used in the 50s and 60s for fish and parcels traffic, but I cannot recall reading of regular scheduled services via Benton terminating at Tynemouth, nor have I any recollection of ever seeing a vehicle of any kind in the north bays (though the track remained until almost the end).

You mean Collywell Bay, and no it didn't. That 'line that never was' fed off the Blyth & Tyne's Avenue branch a few miles north of Tynemouth. Could it have been a parcels bay in the early days? I don't think it was officially used as a passenger platform.

Had the Colywell Bay route ever actually been completed, running into Tymemouth would have created a nice 'coastal' route, but, I think, Tynemouth was planned and built long before Colywell Bay was thought of.

Two other points: did the (eight) platforms at Tynemouth ever carry numbers? When was the public address system last used (I can remember seeing loudspeakers)?

[PinzaC55]

As a set of 16 photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/s ... 387439295/

[Percy Main]

As a set of 16 photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinzac55/s ... 387439295/

. . . including a splendid one of the end of the north bay under discussion.

[Caledonian]

Blink and look what happens...

Right the first thing to appreciate is that the existing line running down the coast between Monkseaton and Tynemouth isn't the original one.

Monkseaton Station was first built on what's now a doctor's surgery, bowling green and tennis courts outside the present one. The track then crossed the present one just to the south and went through what's now a Morrison's supermarket and headed south to terminate on Correction House Bank, just to the west of the Newcastle and North Shields station in Oxford Street. The coal drops were certainly there until just a few years ago but have since been demolished to make way for housing.

After the construction of the new line and the present Tynemouth station a connecting spur was put in from the south end of the station with quite a tight curve. Although heavily overgrown the alignment is still extant and its commencement marked by a surviving wooden signal post.

As to the platform bays in the station; the southern one was used at one point for fish traffic, carted up Tanners Bank from the Fish Quay, but I don't know if this was its main purpose or only if Oxford Street couldn't be used. The north bay was latterly used by the Post Office - who were responsible for the brick wall separating it from the main platforms.

[Percy Main]

Blink and look what happens...

As to the platform bays in the station; the southern one was used at one point for fish traffic, carted up Tanners Bank from the Fish Quay, but I don't know if this was its main purpose or only if Oxford Street couldn't be used. The north bay was latterly used by the Post Office - who were responsible for the brick wall separating it from the main platforms.

I can remember that wall being put in (although I thought it was for a BR parcels depot rather than for the GPO), but I don't remember it actually involved any trains using the north bays.

The old N&NSR station in Oxford Street was not electrified, and the electric parcels cars had fish compartments, so the 'new' station was presumably always intended to handle these services. In so far as Oxford Street handled fish (I remember it more as a general goods station - and later coal depot), it probably involved heavier or longer distance steam-hauled trains.

[Caledonian]

That explains the business about the fish platforms thanks.

As to the wall at the north bay, it was erected before my time, but we (Metro) always knew it as "the Post Office compound"

[PinzaC55]

Here's a signalling diagram for Tynemouth North box. You notice that the platform nearest the road is labelled "No 1 Dock" but the others are not labelled i.e passenger platforms.They also have release crossovers at the buffers so they were intended to be used by steam hauled services as well as electric units.