Croft Spa railway station

The first railway to Croft-on-Tees was built by the coal-carrying Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) as one of its many short branches to serve collieries. The Croft branch left the main line to the South, near Darlington Bank Top station.[1] A passenger station opened on 27 October 1829.[2]

The section of the Great North of England Railway (GNoER) between Darlington and York opened (for goods traffic only) on 4 January 1841;[3] and passenger trains along the line were introduced on 30 March 1841,[4] when a station at Croft was opened by the GNoER, which allowed the S&DR passenger station to be closed on the same day.[2] The GNoER, after a series of amalgamations, became part of the North Eastern Railway (NER) when that was formed in 1854.[5] The NER renamed the station Croft Spa on 1 October 1896;[6] after it gained popularity for its spa waters, the site of which was very close to the railway station.[7] At the start of 1923, the NER amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping. Passing on to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. In 1958 local trains between Northallerton and Darlington ceased stopping and it was then served only by trains to and from the Richmond branch until its closure by the British Railways Board on 3 March 1969.[8]

The station was demolished in 1970 leaving no trace of its existence except for the ramps from a railway bridge down to the remains of the platforms but trains still pass the site on the East Coast Main Line.

• List of closed railway lines in Great Britain
• List of closed railway stations in Britain

• Allen, Cecil J. (1974) [1964]. The North Eastern Railway. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0495-1.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.

• Croft Spa, SubBrit disused stations project
• Croft station on navigable 1947 O. S. map.