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Description

This magnificent through station is covered by three long curved trainsheds 60 ft wide designed by architect John Dobson with subsequent additional coverage. Dobson was responsible (with builder Richard Grainger) for the reconstruction and expansion of large areas of Newcastle in the 1830s and 40s. The station is on the East Coast Main Line and serves other lines such as those to Carlisle, Sunderland and North Shields.

The station was paid for by the Newcastle and Berwick Railway (York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway by the time the station opened) and the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway.

The High Level Bridge and Newcastle East Junction opened in 1848, until the station opened trains reversed at the east end of what would become Newcastle Central.

The station site straddles the site of a west part of the town wall and Hadrian's Wall. The mid to east end were the Spital fields and west end the site of The Forth. It replaced the terminii Newcastle Carliol Square (in 1850) to the east and Newcastle [Forth] (in 1851) immediately to the west with a through station. The original station had bay platforms at either end and a single through platform on the south side, with carriage sidings parallel to the south. Station offices, waiting rooms and a hotel were on the north side, completed after official opening in 1850. A colonnade was originally planned for the north side and a massive portico was added instead (1863).

The clean lines of this original design were altered with the addition of an island platform, on the site of the carriage sidings, in 1871. The sidings were moved to the west end and the original goods shed from Forth Banks Goods was moved here to become a carriage shed in 1873.

Platform alterations continued and by 1894 two further trainsheds and further suburban platforms had been added at the east end creating what was at the time the largest railway crossing in the World, Newcastle East Junction (overlooked by the castle keep). The suburban platforms were electrified in 1904.

There was further modification at the west end with the opening of the King Edward Bridge and formation of Newcastle West Junction in 1906. This finally ended the practise of having East Coast Main Line trains reverse in the station to continue their journey.

Most of the east end bays were removed with the creation of the Tyne and Wear Metro in the 1980s, the area becoming a car park. The east junction was rationalised as was the west junction with the closure of the route via Scotswood, a short portion of which is now a long siding.

The portico formerly provided a covered road at the main entrance. This was converted into an additional glazed area in 2013, with shops and cafes.

Local

Royal Station Hotel

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