Murton railway station (site), County Durham

Image: © Nigel Thompson Taken: 19 Mar 2020

Opened in or shortly after 1837 (early railway records can be murky!) by the Durham & Sunderland Railway, later part of the North Eastern Railway, on the lines from Sunderland to Stockton and Durham, this was where the line divided. The station closed in 1953. View south along the track-bed, with Stockton straight on (2 platforms) and Durham (Shincliffe) having just one platform curving sharply to the right. No trace apparently remains, with the track-bed in the foreground having been covered over to rise up towards the former Murton Bridge, just behind the camera position. It is now a public footpath. In the early days of railways, two stationary steam winding engines were located here to pull trains by chain up the steep gradients. They were later replaced by more powerful steam locomotives. The last coal trains used the track in 1993, after which it was removed.

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