Stanhope Station: When the railway reached Stanhope in 1862 it became the terminus of the Weardale Railway. In order to extend the line to Wearhead (1895) it was necessary to build a new station nearby on the route of the new extension, so the original building became the goods station. The new station was built at a cost of £2700. Two platforms were provided the station, being originally connected by a wooden footbridge, to be later replaced by a standard North Eastern railway pattern type in 1920.
The original station building situated in Station Road still exists today it is situated on the edge of the William Cook foundry site. To the east across the river bridge there was an engine shed, originally built as a single road, extended to three roads and then later in life cut back to single. During the Second World War, Locomotion No.1 and Derwent were stored in the shed for safekeeping. It is still possible to locate the turntable pit hidden in the undergrowth if you look hard enough.
The line was closed to passenger traffic in 1953, the goods facility continued until 1st November 1965 when all business was transferred to the control of Bishop Auckland. After the closure Stanhope station gradually deteriorated and lost its canopy but was eventually purchased and given some structural refurbishment by Wear Valley Council.
In 1988 the newly refurbished platform opened to accommodate an experimental Summer Sunday service, which was an extension of the Darlington to Bishop Auckland Heritage Line service. Station improvements costing £9,000.00 were carried out prior to the introduction of the service, being financed by contributions from Durham County Council and the Heritage Line Group. The service was to prove an outstanding success and was repeated each summer until 1992.
Wear Valley District Council bought the station building from British Rail in 1992. Volunteers from the Weardale Railway Society carried out some initial renovation work before the Council took over and saw the project through to completion in early 1995.
Then in 2004 the station was reopened for passengers for sevices between Stanhope and Wolsingham after several years of effort by Weardale Railways Limited (later Weardale Railways CIC) assisted by the volunteers of the Weardale Railway Trust. It is currently used as the headquarters of The Weardale Railway Trust Ltd and is also the registered office of Weardale Railways CIC. Since the reopening the canopy on the down platform has been restored and a complete reconstruction of the up platform waiting room building has been carried out.
www.weardale-railway.org.uk/history-of-the-line
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5226 is a Mk 2 Tourist Second Open built in 1966 at derby
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31459 stabled at Stanhope
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31190 stabled at Stanhope
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British Rail Class 122 E55012 which has recently been restored at Rail Restorations North East, Shildon and now based on the Weardale railway
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