Ponteland was a railway station on the

Ponteland Railway The Ponteland Railway was a single-track branch line, which linked Gosforth in Tyne and Wear with Ponteland in Northumberland. A sub-branch line also ran between Ponteland and Darras Hall. The branch line between South Gosforth and Ponteland ...

, which ran between

South Gosforth Gosforth is a suburb of the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district from 1895 until 1974 before officially merging with the city of New ...

and Ponteland, with a sub-branch line to Darras Hall. It served Ponteland in

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

. The station was opened on 1 June 1905, by the North Eastern Railway. It was situated near to the junction of Main Street and Darras Road. The ticket selling statistics in 1911 showed that this was the busiest station on the branch line, with 32,084 tickets sold. The goods facilities were the largest on the branch line. Situated to the west of the station, facilities consisted of five sidings, a large goods shed, a water tower, a cattle dock and a reversing loop, in 1920.

History

The Gosforth and Ponteland Light Railway was formed in 1899, under the Light Railways Act of 1896. Construction of the line by the North Eastern Railway was authorised by

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in February 1901. In March 1905, the 7-mile section from

to Ponteland was opened to goods traffic, with passenger services commencing in June 1905. A 1¹⁄4-mile extension of the branch line to the garden city of Darras Hall in

, known as the Little Callerton Railway, was authorised in 1909. Unlike the Gosforth and Ponteland Light Railway, the extension was not constructed as a light railway. Passenger services commenced between Ponteland and Darras Hall in October 1913. In 1922, the branch line was served by six weekday passenger trains, with an additional train running on Saturday. Only three trains ran through to Darras Hall.

Demise and closure

As a result of poor passenger numbers, the station, along with the branch line closed to passengers on 17 June 1929. The line had operated passenger services between Ponteland and Darras Hall for just sixteen years at the time of closure. Ponteland remained open for goods traffic until 14 August 1967. A private siding remained open until the mid-1970s.

References

External links

{{Closed stations Northumberland, state=collapse Disused railway stations in Northumberland Former North Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1905 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1929 1905 establishments in England 1967 disestablishments in England