Willington Quay was a railway station on the Riverside Branch, which ran between Byker and Willington Quay. The station served Willington Quay in North Tyneside. The station was opened to passengers on 1 May 1879 by the North Eastern Railway. It was situated adjacent to Armstrong Road off Howdon Lane.

History

The Newcastle and North Shields Railway received Royal Assent 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 The River Tyne is a river in North East England. Its length (excluding tributaries) is . It is formed by the North Tyne and the South Tyne, which converge at Warden Rock near Hexham in Northumberland at a place dubbed 'The Meeting of the Wate ...

, 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 North Tyneside. Therefore, in 1904, the branch line was electrified, using a 600 V DC

third-rail A third rail, also known as a live rail, electric rail or conductor rail, is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway ...

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 along the

. The station's goods facilities, serving the Union Cement Company, North Eastern Marine Engineering Company and Wallsend Slipway, closed on 2 October 1967. Along with the rest of the electric network in North Tyneside, the line was de-electrified in 1967, and converted to

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

operation. By the early 1970s, traffic on the line had dwindled. The last passenger train operated from Willington Quay on 20 July 1973, with the branch line officially closing to passengers three days later. The station was located about from Howdon, which offered a suitable alternative for passengers after closure.

References

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{{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 1879 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1973 1879 establishments in England 1973 disestablishments in England Beeching closures in England