This photograph shows the rebuilding of Stockton Station in c1890/91. Courtesy of Dave Summerfield. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
This photograph shows the rebuilding of Stockton Station in c1890/91. Courtesy of Dave Summerfield.
Dave – can I ask about the origins of this photo? I have come across very little printed info about either the 1852 or the 1890 work. (I used to live as a boy right near Stockton Station in Bishopton Rd))
Hi John, not seen you for many many years, hope you are well. I will probably bump into Richard in ‘The Sun’ on Christmas Eve lunchtime, he is usually in there at some point
Bill – Hi! Very well thanks, hope you are too. Sorry, I only just saw your response. Posted my query then got busy with other stuff (3rd grandchild etc). Saw both Richard and Chris recently in London. I come up to Teesside to see Richard and family and ferret about in Teesside Archives.
I have a vague memory of part of a track running into Stockton Station from the north, and at that time one of the oldest coaches in the country was on display in that area. This coach has now been moved to the National Railway Museum, I think. Could the track I have mentioned be one of the lines into the old station? On another point, dismantling wrought iron structures must have been quite tedious, before the oxyacetylene burner was invented. Presumably the wreckers would have had to chisel off the heads of every rivet.
I’ve previously stated that the original Leeds Northern station of 1852 was to the west (left) side of the 1892 station shown in this photograph, however a much clearer copy of this photograph has recently been published in a book entitled ‘A Portrait of the North Eastern Railway’ & the book states that while the 1892 station was being constructed trains continued to use the single through platform of the 1852 station somewhere off to the right of the photo, also on close inspection of the photo there is a set of carriages on the right hand (east) side of the photo alongside a retaining wall & in the centre foreground a wall is being demolished which could well have been the outside wall of the 1852 station – this leads me to rethink that the site of the 1852 station actually became part of the 1892 building rather than being to the west of the 1892 building. Another point of interest made in the book is that the 1892 roof was made of light wrought ironwork as previously identified on this site by F.Starr.
Dave – thanks for the book reference. Will check it out. Durham Record Office catalogue has mention of widening of Bishopton Lane bridge at this time but haven’t been there yet (Adamson family of Gainford did a lot of contract work for NER and their record are there).
The middle of the three bridges over Bishopton Lane has recently (Nov 2015) been completely removed with the gaps left behind in the abutments filled with metal fencing, while the most westerly of them (closest to Newtown Corner) has been completely replaced. Did they do away with a line or re-route it onto the new bridge I wonder?
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-bridge-replacement-at-stockton-on-tees-railway-station-90610210.html
correction… the middle bridge has been replaced with a narrower bridge, whilst the westerly bridge has been completely removed and the gaps fenced off.