Carville was a railway station on the

Riverside Branch The Riverside Branch was a double-track branch line, which ran between Riverside Junction in Heaton and Percy Main West Junction in Percy Main. The line opened in May 1879, later being electrified in 1904, as part of the Tyneside Electric ...

, which ran between

Byker Byker is a district in the east of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. Home to the Byker Wall estate, made famous by TV series '' Byker Grove'', Byker’s population was recorded at 12,206 in the 2011 census. Byker is borde ...

and

Willington Quay Willington Quay is an area in the borough of North Tyneside in Tyne and Wear in northern England. It is on the north bank of the River Tyne, facing Jarrow, and between Wallsend and North Shields. It is served by the Howdon Metro station in Howdon. ...

. The station served

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This f ...

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered ...

. The station was opened to passengers on 1 August 1891 by the North Eastern Railway. It was situated near to the junction of Hadrian Road and Park Road. Despite the station's close proximity to nearby

, Carville was the busiest station on the

prior to the line's closure.

History

The

Newcastle and North Shields Railway The Newcastle & North Shields Railway opened in June 1839 from a temporary terminus in Carliol Square in Newcastle upon Tyne to North Shields. The railway was absorbed by the Newcastle & Berwick Railway in November 1844. The Newcastle & Berwick ...

received

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

on 21 June 1836, with the line opening between Carliol Square and North Shields on 18 June 1839. It ran along the north bank of the River Tyne, although due to the meandering course of the river, it ran some distance from the shoreline at the eastern end. The branch line, which was designed to more closely follow the shoreline of the Tyne, serving the rapidly developing industries and communities, was authorised in 1871. It was built along a route "that consisted for the most part of tunnels, bridges, cuttings, retaining-walls, and embankments". The branch line opened on 1 May 1879. The delay in opening the line reflected the scale of the engineering works required to build the many tunnels, cuttings and retaining walls. Despite being a loop line, the line was officially known as the Riverside Branch. In the early 1900s, tramway competition caused a rapid decline in the number of passengers using the North Eastern Railway's local services in

. Therefore, in 1904, the branch line was electrified, using a 600 V DC third-rail system.

Demise and closure

Between 1909 and 1948, an hourly all-day service ran on the line. In the late 1940s, passenger services on the branch were reduced to peak hours only, catering primarily for commuter traffic from the

shipyards A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

along the River Tyne. The station's goods facilities, which contained a siding which served two brickworks, a steam turbine works, shipyards and a power station that supplied electricity for the

Tyneside Electrics The Tyneside Electrics were the suburban railways on Tyneside that the North Eastern Railway and the London and North Eastern Railway electrified using the third rail system. The North Tyneside Loop was electrified from 1904 onwards and formed o ...

network, closed on 11 July 1966. Along with the rest of the electric network in North Tyneside, the line was de-electrified in 1967, and converted to diesel multiple unit operation. By the early 1970s, traffic on the line had dwindled. The last passenger train operated from Carville on 20 July 1973, with the branch line officially closing to passengers three days later. The station was, in part, replaced by Hadrian Road on the

Tyne and Wear Metro The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...

network, which opened on 14 November 1982.

References

External links

{{closed stations Tyne and Wear Disused railway stations in Tyne and Wear Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1891 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1973 1891 establishments in England 1973 disestablishments in England Beeching closures in England