Demolition of Bankhead Railway Station on 31st May 1964

Image: © FredSoakell Taken: 31 May 1964

The "Haswell Bridge" station was located near to Salters Road, at the north end of Haswell Village and was the terminus for the Hartlepool Dock Railway. The boys on the left of the picture are sitting on the parapet wall to the tunnel that was constructed under the Hartlepool railway, to allow the Sunderland & Durham Branch railway to connect with the Haswell Colliery line. There was a railway siding off the Haswell Colliery line (west of this tunnel) which led back up at right angles to Bankhead Station. A turntable was used at the Bankhead Station to turn locomotives and third-class passenger carriages around to make a connection between the Hartlepool and Sunderland Railways. Haswell Junction station (passenger terminus) on the Sunderland Railway was to the east of the Bankhead Station, where the 1st-class passengers had to disembark and be transported across to Bankhead for ongoing passage to Hartlepool (the tunnel under Salters Road was only large enough to allow the passage of third class and baggage carriages). The railway station which replaced the Bankhead station can be seen in the background just beyond the level crossing and signal box at Station Street. As a young boy I lived in Railway Cottages which can be seen on the extreme right of the image. Further details of the arrangement and configuration of the railway lines at Bankhead are described in Parliamentary Papers which investigate a derailment on the colliery line/ sidings points.

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