The Rise and Fall of the Railway Bridge

There was a rather ugly railway bridge spanning the main road which dominated the west end of the village for over sixty years until its demolition around 1968.

Ponteland railway station was located a little to the north of the crossing on the site of what is now Merton Road Shopping Centre car park. The approach was from the south and had to be embanked to cross the river and the crossing was embanked to take the line across the main road. The work took place in 1904 and the station opened the following year.

This was a light railway which ran from Gosforth. The line was very successful at first but with the introduction of Newcastle Corporation buses which served Ponteland and Darras Hall, passenger numbers were badly affected. Passenger services were discontinued in 1929 but the line and bridge continued to be used for freight until 1967.

The low level bridge across the main road caused problems with larger vehicles. It was only 13ft 3in which meant for example, double-decker busses could not be used on the Newcastle/Darrass Hall route.

It was demolished sometime after 1968 and now the only trace of it is in the raised ground which north and south of it which formally were the embankments leading to the crossing.