Middlesbrough railway station

site of the first railway station

The first railway line was opened in the area as long ago as December 1830 as an extension of the Stockton and Darlington Railway to connect with the port of the then new town of Middlesbrough. From the opening of the line until 1837, passengers were served by a wooden shed on the route to the riverside coal staithes. In 1837 the line was extended along Commercial Street to the new Exchange and in 1839 a more substantial station was built on Commercial Street.[4][5]

In June 1846, a branch off the Stockton and Darlington Railway line extending eastwards to Redcar was opened by the Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway Company. Situated on the Redcar branch line on the southern edge of the new town, a new passenger station was designed by John Middleton and opened on 26 July 1847. As the town expanded rapidly southwards during the second half of the 19th Century however, the 1847 station was unable to cope with the traffic growth. Due to the design of the station not lending itself to enlargement it was therefore demolished in 1874 and replaced by the current much larger station, opened in December 1877. The Commercial Street station, increasingly isolated from the town centre by the opening of the Redcar branch line, became a goods station before eventually being demolished.[6][7][8]

The current 1877 station was designed by the North Eastern Railway's chief architect, William Peachey, with an ornate Gothic style frontage. Behind this an overall roof of elliptical design once existed. Constructed out of wrought iron of lattice design, with glass covering the middle half and timber (inside)/slate (outside) covering the outer quarters. The two end screens were glazed with timber cladding around the outer edges. The roof was high in relation to its width.[9]

Bomb damage after the 1942 raid

Middlesbrough station, July 1977

The elliptical roof was severely damaged in a German daylight air raid in the afternoon of 3 August 1942[10][11] and eventually removed in 1954, to be replaced by the current design over the concourse and platforms.[12]

A major refurbishment of the station took place during 2017 and 2018 with repairs carried out to the station's roof and stonework and upgrading of the Wood Street car park.[13] New information screens were also installed as part of the refurbishment.

In June 2020, Tees Valley Combined Authority announced a new £35 million plan to transform the station. Phase 1 of the work will see the extension of platform 2 giving the station increased capacity to accommodate more trains to Whitby and Newcastle; and planned for late 2021, the re-introduction of direct LNER trains from Middlesbrough to London. Phase 2 of the work will include a new £6.5 million entrance with accompanying business units being created on Zetland Road with access to the station subway being part of the plans. A third phase could see a new platform 3 built, with accompanying glass frontage and concourse facing out onto Bridge Street West further increasing train capacity within the station.[14][15][16] Construction on the first phase began in January 2021.[17]

Route 2: Durham Coast Line
Newcastle Heworth Sunderland Seaham Horden Hartlepool Seaton Carew Billingham Stockton Thornaby Middlesbrough
Most services extend to/from Hexham or Nunthorpe.

Route 3: Tees Valley Line
Bishop Auckland Shildon Newton Aycliffe Heighington North Road Darlington Dinsdale Teesside Airport Allens West Thornaby Middlesbrough South Bank Redcar Central Redcar East Longbeck Marske Saltburn

Route 5: Esk Valley Line
Middlesbrough James Cook Marton Gypsy Lane Nunthorpe Great Ayton Battersby Kildale Commondale Castleton Moor Danby Lealholm Glaisdale Egton Grosmont Sleights Ruswarp Whitby

From the station, Northern Trains provides local services on three lines. Services are currently operated by a fleet of Class 156 and Class 158 DMUs. As of the December 2019 timetable change, service and frequency is as follows:

• Durham Coast Line: An hourly service between Middlesbrough and Newcastle. Most trains continue on to Hexham or Carlisle.[22]
• Esk Valley Line: An hourly service between Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe, with six trains per day (four on Sunday) continuing on to Whitby. Most trains commence from Hexham or Carlisle. Two additional services operate as far as Battersby or Castleton Moor (Monday to Saturday only).[23]
• Tees Valley Line: A half-hourly service between Saltburn and Darlington, with one train per hour continuing on to Bishop Auckland.[24]

TransPennine Express also operate an hourly service from Redcar Central to York, Leeds and Manchester Airport.[25][26] Services are operated by a fleet of Class 185 DMUs, which are due to be replaced by the new Nova 3.[27]

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Thornaby		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Redcar Central
Terminus		Northern Trains Durham Coast Line		Thornaby
		Northern Trains Esk Valley Line		James Cook
Redcar Central		Northern Trains Tees Valley Line		Thornaby
South Bank
	Future services
Newcastle		Northern Connect Carlisle – Middlesbrough		Terminus
	Disused railways
Terminus		Middlesbrough & Guisborough Railway		Ormesby

• Body, G (1988). PSL Field Guides – Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-072-1.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Middlesbrough railway station.

• Train times and station information for Middlesbrough railway station from National Rail