Blyth railway station

This article is about the closed railway station in England. For the station that has served Blyth since 2025, see Blyth Bebside railway station. For the railway station in South Australia, see Blyth railway station, South Australia.

Blyth
View from street in 1965
General information
Location	Blyth, Northumberland, England
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Pre-grouping	North Eastern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway, British Railways
Key dates
3 March 1847	First station opened
1 May 1867	Second station opened; first station closed
1894–96	Rebuilt
2 November 1964	Closed
1972	Demolished
19 October 2025	Reopened station at Blyth Bebside
Location

Blyth railway station served the town of Blyth, in Northumberland, England. It was a stop on a branch of the Blyth and Tyne Railway between 1847 and 1964. In October 2025, the new Blyth Bebside station was opened, at a different site, on the Northumberland Line.

History

The Blyth, Seghill and Percy Main Railway opened the line to Blyth on 3 March 1847 and the first station was at Croft Street (now King Street). On 1 May 1867, a new station was opened to replace the original. It was at the north end of Turner Street (now part of Regent Street) on the site now occupied by a Morrisons supermarket and the Community Hospital.

The Blyth, Seghill and Percy Main Railway became the Blyth and Tyne Railway in 1853 and was taken over by the North Eastern Railway (NER) in 1874. By the 1890s, the increase in goods and passenger traffic was such that a new station was needed. The NER originally planned to build a new station on newly reclaimed land on Bridge Street, between Union Street and Beaconsfield Street, but these were turned down after an objection from the neighbouring Thomas Knight Memorial Hospital, on the grounds of noise.

The NER therefore rebuilt the existing station between 1894 and 1896, at a cost of £20,000. Most of the building was designed and built by J & W Simpson of Blyth. Despite being next to a through line, the station was a terminus. It faced Turner Street and had a single island platform projecting from the rear which was half covered by a glazed apex canopy. Adjacent were a goods shed, next to Delaval Terrace, and a coaling stage. To the west stood South Blyth locomotive shed, first built in 1879 with three roads and extended to six in 1895, and a cattle dock. To the north passed the freight-only lines to the NER coaling staiths, gas works, Blyth Harbour Commission and shipyard.

The station originally had two signal boxes: Blyth Signal Box, at the end of the passenger platforms, and Blyth Crossing Box controlling the level crossing near the engine shed on Renwick Road (previously Alexandra Crescent). Blyth Signal Box was destroyed by a German parachute mine on the night of 25 April 1941, killing the signaller instantly. Thereafter, only Blyth Crossing Box was used.

Passenger services were withdrawn on 2 November 1964 under The Reshaping of British Railways; the station buildings stood derelict until they were demolished in 1972.

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Newsham Line closed; station open		Blyth and Tyne Railway		Terminus

The site today

Nothing remains of the station itself or associated buildings, except for the station master's house in Delaval Terrace, which survives as a private home. The site is now a Morrisons supermarket.

Blyth Bebside station

Main article: Blyth Bebside railway station

Proposals to reintroduce passenger rail services to the freight-only section of the former Blyth and Tyne Railway system had been discussed since the 1990s.

By the 1990s, local councils were considering the feasibility of restoring passenger services linking Ashington and Blyth with Newcastle Central. These early and informal proposals did not suggest simply rebuilding the branch to Blyth, but by reopening Newsham station where the Blyth branch joined the now freight-only Blyth and Tyne main line.

Following planning approval, the new station, Blyth Bebside, was constructed by the project's primary construction contractor, Morgan Sindall. The new station was not ready in time for the Northumberland Line's opening in December 2024; it was finally opened on 19 October 2025.

References

Sources

• Balmer, Bob (2002) [1997]. Images of England: Blyth (3rd ed.). Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7524-0773-9.
• Balmer, Bob; Smith, Gordon (2004). Images of England: Blyth volume II. Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7524-3349-3.
• Bevan, Alan, ed. (1998). A-Z of Rail Reopenings (fourth ed.). Fareham: Railway Development Society Ltd. p. 59. ISBN 0-901283-13-4.
• "Connecting Communities – Expanding Access to the Rail Network" (PDF). London: Association of Train Operating Companies. June 2009. Retrieved 7 September 2018.