Newcastle Central Station
One of Britain's grandest and - architecturally - best integrated stations.
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Neville Street, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear NE1 5DL
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The station was designed by John Dobson for the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway company (which subsequently became the North Eastern Railway (NER) following a merger with other companies in 1854) and the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (which was later absorbed by NER in 1862).
It was constructed in collaboration with Robert Stephenson, also responsible for the High Level Bridge, between 1845 and 1850. The grand opening ceremony, attended by Queen Victoria, took place on 29 August 1850.
The building has a classical styled frontage, and its trainshed has a distinctive roof with three curved, arched spans - the first example of its kind, which set the 'house style' for the NER's subsequent main stations, culminating in the very last major British example half a century later, the rebuilt and enlarged Hull Paragon in 1904.
A portico, designed by Thomas Prosser, was added to the station entrance in 1863, and the trainshed was extended southwards in the 1890s with a new span designed by William Bell.
It is a Grade 1 Listed Building.
By road: Off A167 and A186.
Addyman, John & Fawcett, Bill, The High Level Bridge and Newcastle Central Station: 150 Years Across the Tyne, North Eastern Railway Association, ISBN-10: 1873513283 (1999)
Biddle, Gordon, Britain's Historic Railway Buildings, Oxford University Press, ISBN-10: 0198662475 (2003)
Biddle, Gordon & Nock, O.S., The Railway Heritage of Britain : 150 years of railway architecture and engineering, Studio Editions, ISBN-10: 1851705953 (1990)
Dobson Harry, Dobson on Dobson, The Pentland Press, ISBN 1858218136 (2000)
Faulkner Thomas & Greg, Andrew, John Dobson 1787-1865: Architect of the North East, Newcastle Libraries & Information Service, ISBN-10: 185795131X (2001)
Guy, Andy, Steam and Speed: Railways of Tyne and Wear, Tyne Bridge Publishing, ISBN 1857951611 (2003)
Hoole, K., The North East (A regional history of the railways of Great Britain, David & Charles, ISBN-10: 0715377469 (1978)
Miller, Joseph, The York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway Company: The Directors' Reports, M. & W. Lambert, ASIN: B0018WKJX2 (1849)
Nock, O. S., Locomotives of the North Eastern Railway, Ian Allan, ISBN-10: 0711004935 (1974)
Wilkes, Lyall, John Dobson, Architect and Landscape Gardener, Oriel Press Ltd, ISBN 0853621810 (1980)
North Eastern Railway Association
Stephenson's Legacy - The iron road from Newcastle 1850-2000