Dunston railway station

Dunston is a station on the Tyne Valley Line, serving the Dunston area of Gateshead. Services are currently provided by Northern Trains, who also manage the station.

Dunston
Dunston station, viewed from a passing GNER service, diverted onto the Tyne Valley Line in October 2005.
Location
Place	Dunston
Local authority	Gateshead
Grid reference	NZ230617
Operations
Station code	DOT
Managed by	Northern Trains
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	4,904
2015/16	7,168
2016/17	10,618
2017/18	12,966
2018/19	16,488
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Tyne and Wear
Zone	2 (Network One)
History
1909	Opened
4 May 1926	Closed
1 October 1984	Re-opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Dunston from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station originally opened in January 1909, and was situated on a section of line built by the North Eastern Railway, to link the lines over the newly commissioned King Edward VII Bridge with the original 1837 Newcastle & Carlisle Railway freight route to Redheugh and the Dunston coal staithes.[1]

It was originally known as Dunston-on-Tyne, and served as the terminus of a shuttle service from Newcastle. This service ended on in May 1926, as a result of the General Strike of 1926, and the station was closed.

It was very briefly brought back into use for special evacuation trains during World War II, but remained closed throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s.

In October 1982, trains were routed through Dunston, due to the closure of Scotswood Bridge,[2] and the station was officially re-opened by British Rail on 1 October 1984.

Initially, most services on the Tyne Valley Line services called at Dunston. Service frequency was later reduced, due to low passenger numbers, particularly following the opening of Metrocentre in August 1987.

Facilities

The station is unmanned, and only has basic amenities, including a single waiting shelter on the island platform, timetable poster boards and a customer help point at the station entrance. There are no ticketing facilities at the station, therefore tickets must be bought in advance or on the train. Step-free access is available by means of an inclined ramp from the station entrance on Ellison Road.[3]

Services

Northern Trains Route 4: Tyne Valley Line
West Coast Main Line to Edinburgh & Glasgow Glasgow South Western Line to Glasgow Carlisle Cumbrian Coast Line to Barrow-in-Furness & West Coast Main Line to London Euston Settle to Carlisle Line Wetheral Brampton Haltwhistle Bardon Mill Haydon Bridge Hexham Corbridge Riding Mill Stocksfield Prudhoe Wylam Blaydon MetroCentre Dunston East Coast Main Line to London King's Cross Newcastle East Coast Main Line to Edinburgh Durham Coast Line to Middlesbrough

Prior to the December 2013 timetable change, the station was served by four daily services (Monday to Saturday), with no service running from the station on a Sunday. Two operated in the direction of Newcastle (with one continuing on to Nunthorpe), and a further two in the direction of Metrocentre (with one continuing on to Hexham).[4]

The timetable change in December 2013 brought about significant improvements, with the station seeing its best level of service since the late 1980s. An hourly service operated daily between Newcastle and Metrocentre (with some services continuing on to Hexham).[5]

As of the December 2019 timetable change, Northern Trains operate an hourly service (Monday to Saturday) between Hexham and Nunthorpe, with additional trains also calling at the station during the morning and evening peak. On a Sunday, an hourly service operates between Metrocentre and Newcastle, with a two-hourly service continuing to Morpeth.[6]

References

1. Railway Bridges Around Newcastle www.lner.info; Retrieved 2013-10-03
2. Body, G: Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, 1988, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1, p.133
3. Dunston station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 3 February 2017
4. GB National Rail Timetable May - December 2013, Table 48
5. GB National Rail Timetable December 2016 - May 2017, Table 48
6. "Timetables for Northern Trains". www.northernrailway.co.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2020.

External links

• Train times and station information for Dunston railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Newcastle		Northern Trains Tyne Valley Line		MetroCentre