Seaham Harbour railway station
{{Short description|Former railway station in England}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox station
| name = Seaham Harbour
| status = Disused
| image = Seaham Harbour railway station (site), County Durham (geograph 5259525).jpg
| caption = The site of the station in January 2017
| borough = Seaham, County Durham
| country = England
| coordinates = {{coord|54.8371|-1.3406|type:railwaystation_region:GB|display=inline,title}}
| platforms = 1
| original = Londonderry, Seaham & Sunderland Railway
| pregroup = North Eastern Railway
| postgroup = LNER
| years = 1855
| events = Opened as Seaham
| years1 = 1 March 1925
| events1 = Renamed Seaham Harbour
| years2 = {{End date|1939|09|11|df=y}}
| events2 = Closed
| years3 = 1971
| events3 = Demolished
}}
Seaham Harbour railway station was a railway station that served the town of Seaham Harbour in County Durham, North East England. For much of its existence, it was the southern passenger terminus of the Londonderry, Seaham and Sunderland Railway{{Cite book|title=A Regional History of Railways of Great Britain Volume 4 The North East|last=Hoole|first=K.|publisher=David St John Thomas|year=1986|isbn=0946537313|edition=3rd|pages=[https://archive.org/details/northeast0000hool/page/156 156-157]|url=https://archive.org/details/northeast0000hool/page/156}} but declined in importance after the opening of the nearby Seaham Colliery station and the extension of the line to West Hartlepool (avoiding Seaham Harbour station) by that company's successor.{{Cite book|title=PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2|last=Body|first=Geoffrey|publisher=Patrick Stephens Limited|year=1989|isbn=1852600721|location=Wellingborough|pages=150}}
History
In 1854 the Londonderry Railway opened the Londonderry, Seaham and Sunderland Railway to link its network of colliery railways to the newly constructed South Dock in Sunderland due to the lack of capacity in Seaham Harbour. Though constructed primarily for mineral traffic, passengers were also carried on this line from 1855 and stations were opened at either end of the line.{{Cite book|title=Railways of Sunderland|last=Sinclair|first=Neil T.|publisher=Tyne and Wear County Council Museums|year=1985|isbn=0905974247|pages=10, 54 & 62}} At the Seaham end of the line, a station was constructed on Marlborough Street and was originally named Seaham whilst at the Sunderland end, Hendon Burn station was constructed close to the staithes in the South Dock. From 1868, LS&SR began to use the Hendon terminus of the North Eastern Railway (NER) before that was in turn closed by the NER in 1879 to be replaced by Sunderland Central station and all LS&SR services were once again diverted into the new station.
The LS&SR did, however, remain independent until the Londonderry Railway agreed to sell its Seaham to Sunderland route to the NER in the Act of 30 July 1900 though this sale did not include Station Hotel which was attached to the Seaham station and had direct entrance from the station platform; the hotel remained under the ownership of the Marquess of Londonderry. The NER took over operation of the route on 6 October 1900 and then, on 1 April 1905 opened an extension of it along the coast to meet the former Hartlepool Dock & Railway at {{rws|Hart}}. However all through trains to West Hartlepool over the extension, left the original LS&SR passenger route just to the north of the original Seaham terminus, serving the new Seaham Colliery station instead and thus leaving the original Seaham station as the terminus of local trains to and from Sunderland.
In the 1923 grouping, the NER was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). As part of an agreement which allowed them to close the Marquess' private station at {{rws|Seaham Hall Dene}}, the LNER renamed both the original Seaham station and the later Seaham Colliery station on 1 March 1925, with the original station becoming Seaham Harbour and the later station becoming Seaham.
Under the LNER, Seaham Harbour station retained a fairly frequent service of 14 trains per day, despite it having been superseded as the town's main station until it was closed as a wartime economy measure on 11 September 1939 and never reopened. The station buildings remained until they were demolished in 1971.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Historical Rail Start}}
{{rail line|previous=|next=Seaham
Line closed, station open|route=North Eastern Railway
Londonderry, Seaham and
Sunderland Railway|col={{NER colour}}}}
{{rail end}}
{{closed stations County Durham}}
Category:Disused railway stations in County Durham
Category:Former North Eastern Railway (United Kingdom) stations
Category:Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1855