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Station Road, HOUGHTON LE SPRING, DH4 6AA

Opened in 1841 by the Durham Junction Railway on the line from Washington to Rainton Meadows, local services initially ran to Gateshead. From 1844, the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway via Leamside connected to this line just south of Fencehouses, and so it became part of the East Coast Main Line from London to Newcastle (until 1872 when the current line via Durham was opened). View north towards Penshaw and Newcastle. The station had two parallel platforms on the far side of the former level crossing. It was demolished in 1966 but the track was in situ until 2012. For more information, see http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/f/fencehouses/index.shtml

A local supermarket in Fencehouses, County Durham.

This was once the site of Fencehouses railway station. The railway through Fencehouses lost its regular passenger trains in the 1960s. The line remained in use, both for freight trains and occasionally for diverted passenger trains on days when the main line through Durham and Chester-le-Street was closed for engineering work. The line became disused in around 1992. Although no maintenance work is carried out, this railway line is still owned by Network Rail, and is being retained in case there is a need to bring it back into use in future. It would clearly need considerable work to restore the line to a useable state. At this location, the tracks are interrupted as tarmac has been laid across the site of a level crossing. The sign to the left of the image shows that the railway formed the boundary between Tyne & Wear and County Durham.

The change in the road surface marks the site of a railway level crossing. The railway through Fencehouses fell into disuse in around 1992. The line is still "mothballed", retained by Network Rail in case there is a need to bring it back into use in future. In many places the track is intact, but it would need to be restored at this point. The railway also marks the boundary between County Durham (this side of the crossing) and Tyne & Wear on the far side.

The railway through Fencehouses lost its regular passenger trains in the 1960s. The line remained in use, both for freight trains and occasionally for diverted passenger trains on days when the main line through Durham and Chester-le-Street was closed for engineering work. The line became disused in around 1992. Although no maintenance work was carried out, this railway line was still owned by Network Rail. When this image was taken, it was being retained in case there was a need to bring it back into use in future. Although much of the track was atill intact when this image was taken, here at Fencehouses it had already been covered over with tarmac at the site of a level crossing. The rest of the track was lifted about a year after this image was taken. The railway route is also the border between Tyne & Wear (this side of the crossing) and County Durham (on the far side). The blue sign just beyond the crossing is the sign for County Durham.

Fencehouses station, on the opposite side of the road to the pub, closed in 1964. The pub name is a reminder that a station had been here.

The railway through Fencehouses lost its regular passenger trains in the 1960s. The line remained in use, both for freight trains and occasionally for diverted passenger trains on days when the main line through Durham and Chester-le-Street was closed for engineering work. The line became disused in around 1992. Although no maintenance work is carried out, this railway line is still owned by Network Rail, and is being retained in case there is a need to bring it back into use in future. It would clearly need considerable work to restore the line to a useable state. At this location, the tracks are interrupted as tarmac has been laid across the site of a level crossing.