Prudhoe railway station

Prudhoe is a station on the Tyne Valley Line, serving the town of Prudhoe, and villages of Eltringham and Ovingham in Northumberland. Services are currently provided by Northern, who also manage the station.

Prudhoe
Location
Place	Prudhoe
Local authority	Northumberland
Grid reference	NZ087634
Operations
Station code	PRU
Managed by	Northern
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	0.159 million
2015/16	0.154 million
2016/17	0.155 million
2017/18	0.147 million
2018/19	0.140 million
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Prudhoe from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

It is located on the former Newcastle & Carlisle Railway, around 12 miles (19 km) west of Newcastle, on the route to Carlisle.

Prudhoe was first opened in March 1835, by the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway. It was never a junction, although extensive industrial connections on either side of the station once existed.

The station buildings on the eastbound platform were rebuilt in 1884 in the 'twin pavilion' style by the North Eastern Railway, but demolished in 1973 by British Rail after the station became unstaffed. It ceased handling goods traffic in 1965.[1]

Manual semaphore signalling complete with a block post at Prudhoe Signalbox beside the station and level crossing continues to operate. The full barrier level crossing is signalman worked, and owing to the adjacent single track Ovingham Bridge over the River Tyne, as well as the frequent train services, there are often long road queues.

From 1859 until 1915 there was another station less than a mile west, known as Mickley.

In May 2007, a new public transport interchange was opened. This provides direct connections to bus and train services, and a car park.

The opening of the interchange coincided with the introduction of a much improved train service started, with most passenger trains on the line being scheduled to call at Prudhoe.

Go North East operate connecting bus services from the station, with the Tyne Valley Ten 10B providing a half-hourly service to Prudhoe, Ryton, Crawcrook, Blaydon, intu Metrocentre and Newcastle.[2]

On 7 July 2007, a special excursion train called at Prudhoe, the first in many years to stop at the station. Northern operated a special Coast to Coast service between Saltburn and Whitehaven, using a Settle to Carlisle Railway liveried Class 156 'Sprinter'.

Facilities

The station is unstaffed, with self-service ticketing machines installed in 2019, meaning that tickets must be bought before boarding.

There are shelters on both platforms, and a help point on the westbound platform, providing train running information, in addition to the timetable posters on each side.

Step-free access is available to both platforms via ramps and the level crossing, with a stepped footbridge also available.[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

As of the December 2019 timetable change, service frequency is as follows:

Monday to Saturday

• Three trains per hour towards Metrocentre and Newcastle, with an hourly service continuing towards Morpeth, and an hourly service continuing towards Sunderland, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe (some continuing as far as Whitby).
• Three trains per hour to Hexham, with two trains per hour continuing towards Carlisle. Stations at Haydon Bridge, Bardon Mill, Brampton and Wetheral are served hourly.

Sunday

• Three trains per hour towards Newcastle, with a two-hourly service continuing towards Morpeth, and an hourly service continuing towards Sunderland, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe (some continuing as far as Whitby).
• An hourly service towards Carlisle. Stations at Haydon Bridge, Bardon Mill, Brampton and Wetheral are served two-hourly.

Incidents

A landslip in early January 2016, between Corbridge and Riding Mill (caused by heavy rain and a broken drainage pipe) led to the temporary suspension of services between Prudhoe and Hexham, whilst repairs to the track bed and adjacent cutting walls were carried out.

Services from Newcastle terminated at Prudhoe, with a replacement bus service running from the station to Stocksfield, Riding Mill, Corbridge and Hexham, until the work was completed.[4]

The line reopened on 8 February 2016, following the removal of over 35,000 tonnes of earth from the site.[5]

References

1. "Disused Stations - Prudhoe"Disused Stations Site Record; Retrieved 2 February 2017
2. "10 - Tyne Valley Ten : Go North East". www.gonortheast.co.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
3. Prudhoe station facilitiesNational Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 2 February 2017
4. Riddell, Kathryn (8 January 2016). "Railway between Hexham and Prudhoe will be closed for weeks after Corbridge landslip". Newcastle Chronicle. Retrieved 13 December 2016.
5. "West line between Carlisle and Newcastle to reopen on Monday after landslip repairs" Archived 8 February 2016 at the Wayback MachineNetwork Rail Media Centre; Retrieved 4 February 2016

External links

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

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Stocksfield		Northern Tyne Valley Line		Wylam