Wellfield railway station: Difference between revisions

Construction of the HD&R was first authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained on 1 June 1832 which granted the railway company powers to construct a 14 -mile railway from [[High Moorsley|Moorsley]] (near [[Houghton-le-Spring]]) to [[Hartlepool (Headland) railway station|Hartlepool]] as well as a number of short branches to serve collieries surrounding the line and a further Act of 16 June 1834 authorised an additional branch to [[Gilesgate]] in the [[Durham, England|City of Durham]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Regional History of Railways of Great Britain Volume 4 The North East|last=Hoole|first=K.|publisher=David St John Thomas|year=1965|isbn=0946537313|edition=3rd|location=|pages=[https://archive.org/details/northeast0000hool/page/149 149, 151 & 154]|url=https://archive.org/details/northeast0000hool/page/149}}</ref> However competition from other railway companies (most notably the [[Durham & Sunderland Railway|Durham & Sunderland Railway (D&SR)]]) diverted much of the traffic that the company had been intending to access along other routes<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Teesside Railways A View From The Past|last=Hill|first=Norman|publisher=Ian Allan Publishing Ltd|year=2001|isbn=0711028036|location=Hersham|pages=17, 18, 23 & 27}}</ref> thus meaning that the H&DR only reached as far as {{rws|Haswell}} and most of its branches were either cut short or left unbuilt. Nonetheless, the curtailed line opened (as far as Haswell) on 23 November 1835.<ref name=":2" /> Passenger services were operated over the line but no station was initially provided at Wellfield: the two nearest stations at the time were {{rws|Thornley}}, to the north, and {{rws|Castle Eden}}, to the south east.{{Hartlepool–Haswell–Sunderland and Hartlepool–Ferryhill Lines Diagram}}

In 1846, the newly formed [[York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway|York & Newcastle Railway (Y&NR)]] took out a lease on the HD&R<ref name=":3" /> which was ratified by an Act of 22 July 1848,<ref name=":2" />, from which point the line was operated by the [[York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway|York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway (YN&BR)]] (the successor to the Y&NR). On the 31 July 1854, the YN&BR was amalgamated with other companies to form the North Eastern Railway.<ref>{{Cite book|title=PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2|last=Body|first=Geoffrey|publisher=Patrick Stephens Limited|year=1989|isbn=1852600721|location=Wellingborough|pages=16}}</ref>

The NER made several improvements to line during the 1870s, including the opening of a chord in 1877 that allowed passenger trains to continue beyond Haswell to [[Sunderland station|Sunderland]] by continuing onto the route of the D&SR.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Railways of East Durham|last=Hoole|first=K.|publisher=The Dalesman Publishing Company Ltd|year=1985|isbn=0852068352|location=Clapham, Lancashire|pages=8 & 9}}</ref> One of the most significant of these improvements involved the realignment of the 1 in 34 incline at {{rws|Hesleden}} Bank, in 1874, to allow locomotives to replace [[Cable railway|rope haulage]] on this stretch of the line, though it still remained problematic for trains using the line.<ref name=":2" />

In 1872, the NER gained parliamentary powers to construct a line from Bowesfield Junction (where it joined the route of [[Stockton & Darlington Railway]]) to Wellfield Junction (on the route of the HD&R, just to the south of the future Wellfield station) (known as the Castle Eden Branch Line) and opened the line in stages, with the section north of Carlton Junction (where the line crossed the route of the [[Clarence Railway]]) opening to freight traffic on 1 August 1878. This new line provided an alternative route from [[Teesside]] to the north, bypassing Hesleden Bank. Local passenger trains were eventually introduced on 1 March 1880, utilising the former Clarence Railway route from [[Stockton (County Durham) railway station|Stockton-on-Tees station]] to reach Carlton Junction before taking the new line to Wellfield Junction and initially continued over the route of the HD&R to Thornley station. Two years later Wellfield station was opened, a short distance to the north of the junction, primarlilyprimarily as an interchange station to allow passengers from the line to Stockton to connect with trains to Sunderland and Hartlepool.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=The Castle Eden Branch of the North Eastern Railway|last=Betteney|first=Alan|publisher=Printability Publishing Ltd.|year=1993|isbn=1872239099|location=Wolviston|pages=12, 17, 19, 20, 24, 26, 28 & 33}}</ref>

The station had two platforms, each with a wooden waiting room and a ticket office built over the tracks alongside the road bridge. Unlike other contemporary stations that were built on the Castle Eden Branch, the station never had any goods facilities. A [[signal box]] had been built on the east side of the tracks, just south of the road bridge, when the Castle Eden Branch first opened in 1877. Originally called ''Castle Eden North Junction'', it was renamed ''Wellfield'' when the station opened and, in 1910, was replaced by a new signal box at the northern end of the southbound (eastern) platform. The signal box was unusual in that it overhung the platform (due to the restricted width of the site) but it outlived the station, not closing until 1979.<ref name=":1" />

Passenger traffic on the Castle Eden Branch was always light, the line having been built primarily to allow freight to bypass the congested lines through Stockton and [[Hartlepool]]. Even so, there were four stopping passenger trains over the line per day in each direction in 1910<ref name=":1" /> and the number increased to five each way by the 1930s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thorpe-thewles.org.uk/thorpe%20thewles%20station.htm|title=The Railway Station Thorpe Thewles - Then & Now|last=|first=|date=|website=Thorpe Thewles History Group|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=7 January 2018}}</ref> Despite this low usage Wellfield, being located close to two large villages and being served by trains on two lines, was fairly well used; in 1911 there were 37,551 tickets issued at the station.<ref name=":1" />

The ex-HD&R line survived longer; the line came under control of the [[North Eastern Region of British Railways]] after the LNER was [[Transport Act 1947|nationalised in 1948]]. By this time, passenger and goods traffic across the country was in decline and this was also the case for the route from [[Hartlepool railway station|West Hartlepool]] to Sunderland through Wellfield, which lost its passenger services (south of {{rws|Murton}}) on 9 June 1952.<ref name=":2" /> Nonetheless, stopping goods trains continued to call at many other stations on the line diduntil remain1966<ref openname=":4" to/> goodsand withSunday mostexpress-passenger stationstrain notdiversions closingcontinued to goodspass trafficthrough until 1966the andsection through Haswell was dismantled in the late 1960s.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Goodyear|first=Alan|date=January 1992|title=MURTON CLOSURE ENDS AN ERA|journal=Railway Magazine|publication-place=London|volume=138|pages=56–57|number=1089}}</ref> Indeed, a [[Single-track railway|single line]] was retainedmaintained forthrough somethe yearsstation afterwards to serve various collieries along its route.site<ref name=":4" /> However,to theprovide lacka ofsoutherly goodsoutlet handlingfor facilitiescoal meantfrom that[[South WellfieldHetton stationColliery|South closedHetton]] completelyand when[[Hawthorn passengerColliery|Hawthorn servicesCollieries]] ceaseduntil around the time of the [[UK miners' strike (1984–85)|1984 miner's strike]].<ref name=":15" />

After the Castle Eden Branch Line was closed and the tracks lifted, it was purchased by the two local authorities whose areas it passed through, meaning that the line north of [[Wynyard (County Durham) railway station|Wynyard]]) came under the control of [[Durham County Council]] who converted it into the [[Castle Eden Walkway]] cycle path.<ref name=":1" /> Once the tracks were lifted on the ex-HD&R route work commenced on converting the disused section (south of Haswell) into the [[Hart to Haswell Walkway]]<ref name=":2" /> which was linked into the Castle Eden Walkway to form a continuous north-southnorth–south cycleway. This was eventually extended to Ryhope after the closure of the remaining section of the line between [[Murton Colliery]] and {{rws|Ryhope}} Junction in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://durhamrecordsonline.com/library/colliery-railways-hartlepool-to-sunderland-via-haswell-183536-1993/|title=Colliery Railways: Hartlepool to Sunderland via Haswell 1835/6-1993 {{!}} Durham Records Online Library|last=|first=|date=|website=Durham Records Online|archive-url=|archive-date=|dead-url=|access-date=8 January 2018}}</ref>

{{rail line|previous={{stnlnk|Castle Eden}}<br /><small>Line and station closed</small>|next={{stnlnk|Thornley}}<br /><small>Line and station closed</small>|route=[[North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom)|North Eastern Railway]]<br /><small>[[Hartlepool Dock & Railway]]</small>|col={{NER colour}}}}

{{rail line|previous={{stnlnk|Hurworth Burn}}<br /><small>Line and station closed</small>|route=[[North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom)|North Eastern Railway]]<br /><small>[[Castle Eden Railway]]</small>|col={{NER colour}}}}

[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1882]]

[[Category:Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1952]]