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Seaton Sluice, Northumberland

Collywell Bay Railway Station

Last Updated:

24 Jun 2020

Seaton Sluice, Northumberland

This is a

Railway Station

55.082013, -1.474806

Founded in 

1913

Current status is

Demolished

Designer (if known):

4076554724_b6df6c95d4.jpg

Station never opened and line abandoned

'The station was at the terminus of the branch, 1 mile 68 chains from the junction with the Avenue Branch (Monkseaton – Hartley). It had two 160 yard platforms, the eastern one possibly intended to have a bay on its east side, as suggested by the accompanying plan. The station buildings and signal box were to be on this platform, with a waiting shed on the west platform. A footbridge was planned at the northern end of the station, as the tracks were to extend a little to the north of the platforms. The station was to be electrically lit.

The Ordnance Survey 1: 2500 map of 1922 includes -and names - Collywell Bay station. The platforms and signal box are shown. The main building is not indicated, although its intended position can be deduced, and the widening of the west platform to accommodate the waiting shed is visible. A single railway track appears on the map, with a passing loop a short distance south of the station, and the line ends a short way along the west platform.

The platforms survived until at least 1964, at which time they were serving as a compound for livestock.'

- Disused Stations (http://disused-stations.org.uk/c/collywell_bay/index.shtml)

Listing Description (if available)

The Ordnance Survey above shows Collywell Bay Station in the village of Seaton Sluice. Though its service never came to fruition, the site remained on maps decades after even though the tracks were lifted after the war. A mile of track was kept for a coastal defence gun on a specially mounted wagon.

'The NER expected to introduce the passenger service at the beginning of November 1914, and the name Collywell Bay was added to the destination blinds on the Tyneside electric stock. Construction was at an advanced stage when World War I broke out in August 1914, and the project was halted. A double line of permanent way was in place as well as the station platforms, bridges and signal boxes. A stretch of electric ‘third rail’ was laid at the Monkseaton end of the Avenue branch, the signal box at Brierdene Junction was constructed, and the new Monkseaton station was nearing completion: this station opened the following year. On the outbreak of war house building in the area ceased. In 1916 the Ministry of Munitions and Railway Executive Committee, faced with a shortage of essential materials, decided that new rails could be acquired by singling lightly used lines.

After the war the local council expected the line to be completed. The LNER reviewed the project in 1924 but did not proceed because little housing development had taken place at Seaton Sluice.
In November 1930 the cost of completing the project and operating a half-hourly passenger service and goods trains was weighed against the potential revenue, and the outcome was a decision to abandon it: its fate was sealed in an Agreement between the LNER and Lord Hastings on 1 December 1931. The line and bridges were removed by the end of 1932, but Lord Hastings permitted the partially built stations to remain in place because of the expense of their removal.'

- Disused Stations

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