Panel 1 - The Railway Age - 1900 to 1950

You are now standing on the site of the sidings of Seahouses Station, the terminus of the North Sunderland Railway, a four mile long line which linked to the London to Edinburgh mainline at Chathill Station.

If you look across the car park to the red brick wall you will see that the lower section of the wall consists of yellow bricks. These formed the base of the single platform of Seahouses Station.

With the growing importance of the harbour following its extension in 1870 and the difficulty of transporting fish from the harbour over the poor roads to the station at Chathill, a group of local merchants and fishermen approached the North Eastern Railway on a number of occasions asking them to provide a branch line to Seahouses. Their efforts were fruitless and it was decided to form their own company. A public meeting was held in 1891 and the following year a private bill was placed before parliament and the North Sunderland Railway Act was signed by Queen Victoria in 1892.

On 1st August 1898 the railway was opened for goods traffic only; and from 18th December passenger traffic was also carried. The line was operated by a single locomotive, a saddle tank engine named 'Bamburgh', and five carriages bought second-hand from the Highland Railway at Inverness.

In 1934 a small diesel electric locomotive was built, named the 'Lady Armstrong', to replace the ageing 'Bamburgh'. The latter was repaired and remained a standby for when the 'Lady Armstrong' broke down - a not infrequent occurrence. Both locomotives survived the Second World War but were scrapped in 1949 to be replaced by British Railways locomotives until the line was closed on 27th October 1951 as it was no longer financially viable.

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