Ryhope East railway station

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 between Seaham Harbour and Hendon Burn in Sunderland from 1855, where the LS&SR opened an additional station to serve Ryhope on 2 July. The station was originally named Ryhope and was designed by Brewer, Estate Clarke of Works of the Marquess of Londonderry at the time, who was responsible for its architecture being distinct from that of others North Eastern Railway stations in the vicinity North Eastern Railway.[1]

From 1868 the LS&SR began to use the Hendon terminus of the NER's Durham to Sunderland Line until the NER replaced this in turn with Sunderland Central station in 1879. Although the LS&SR shared the NER's Sunderland terminus, it was not until 1900 that the Londonderry Railway agreed to sell its Seaham to Sunderland route to the NER and, following this acquisition, the line was extended along the coast to West Hartlepool in 1905. To distinguish the station from the NER's other Ryhope station on the Durham to Sunderland Line, the station was renamed Ryhope East in 1904.[2][1]

The station closed to passengers on 7 March 1960,[3] but remained open to goods traffic until all stopping services between Sunderland and West Hartlepool were withdrawn in 1964 as part of the Beeching cuts.[4]