A view of a steam locomotive No.69866 an A8, at the head of a passenger train at Eaglescliffe Station c1950.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
A view of a steam locomotive No.69866 an A8, at the head of a passenger train at Eaglescliffe Station c1950.
A station known as Preston Junction (after nearby Preston On Tees) was erected on this site in 1848.Prior to this the Stockton & Darlington Railway Companys line had run alongside Preston Hall with a station at Yarm.The name was changed to Eaglescliffe junction in the 1870`s to avoid confusion with other junctions of the same name.In 1849 the Leeds Northern Railway was extended to this point,crossing the Stockton & Darlington lines.
At this time the station was only single platform and trains using different lines had to wait for clearance before proceeding.As further railway company lines were linked to the station rail traffic increased greatly.An article in the Northern echo for 1893 stated that between 5.45 in the morning and 11.47 at night 74 passenger trains used the station.In addition to this trains which travelled straight through and mineral trains took the total to over 200 trains passing through the station in a day.(A train spotters dream,if they were around then).
Between 1893 & 1894 the station was enlarged to two platforms with further lines and an additional one for standage.Large waiting rooms were added and the platforms were linked by iron bridges,approached by inclines.At one point the station also had licensed refreshment rooms.The company also demolished two adjacent gasometers which had been used to supply this and Yarm station with gas.A further consequence of extending the station was that an old arched span bridge to the north of the station,which carried a road to Witham Hall,had to be replaced with a 65 feet span iron one.
These days the station`s heyday is long gone and it`s reduced to a single platform used by a much smaller amount of rail traffic.
The photo looks like Eaglecliffe Station, with a North Eastern tank locomotive, I think, I have got a photo of the same engine looking at it from another view, (but I will have to check) it also came with a number of other shots showing the trains journey, along the branch from Picton towards Battersby, so I think the train may have be bound for Whitby, from Stockton.
Ah! This is more like it…. Steam Trains! Wonderful, keep it up!