Bishop Auckland Railway Station Totem Magnet. Free UK shipping. High quality, hand printed metal fridge magnet. British Railway station name sign, in North Eastern region orange.

Bishop Auckland is a railway station that serves the market town of Bishop Auckland, in County Durham, England. It lies 11 miles 77 chains (19.3 km) north-west of Darlington. The station is the Western terminus of the Tees Valley Line, which links it to Saltburn via Darlington.

Bishop Auckland gained its first railway link in 1842, when the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) backed Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway (BA&WR) built the railway line authorised by the Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway Act 1837 from the S&DR’s station at Shildon, via Bishop Auckland and Witton-le-Wear, into Crook.

The company initially built a temporary terminus at South Church, which opened on 19 April 1842. A road coach service then extended the service into Bishop Auckland and a secondary road coach service also ran to Rainton Meadows. After completion of the Shildon Tunnel, the BA&WR erected a permanent station on the current site, which opened to freight on 8 November 1843 and passengers on 30 January 1843. All operations were sub-leased to the S&DR.

In 1844, after the West Durham Railway extended from a junction with the Clarence Railway at Byers Green to Crook, the S&DR extended the BA&WR from Bishop Auckland along the river valley to Witton-le-Wear, and then into Crook. In July 1845, Parliament passed the Wear Valley Railway Act 1845 which allowed the extension of the BA&WR from a junction at Witton-le-Wear to Frosterley, and a small branch line across the river to Bishopley. On 1 April 1857, the North Eastern Railway (NER) started a service from Durham to Bishop Auckland at a new terminus in Tenter Street. However, the S&DR and NER quickly came to the agreement of development of a joint station in the town, and so rebuilt the existing former BA&WR station, with NER trains using it from December 1857.

The Frosterly and Stanhope Railway Act 1862 was passed allowing the S&DR-backed Frosterly and Stanhope Railway to extend the line to Stanhope, thus allowing trains to transport limestone from the Newlandside Estate on the south side of the town. This brought about the extension of the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway from Barnard Castle into Bishop Auckland in 1862, and with the final addition of traffic from an extension of the Clarence Railway at Byers Green, eventually resulted in the NER rebuilding the station again in December 1867. The final extension of the Weardale Railway to Wearhead opened on 21 October 1895, with the NER having re-sited the station at Stanhope to provide a more suitable gradient for the heavy limestone trains. Between Eastgate and Westgate at Cambo Keels, sidings were established to serve the Weardale Iron Company’s Heights limestone quarry, which is still in operation today. This final extension of the Weardale Railway bought about the final and largest layout of Bishop Auckland railway station, which was now rebuilt in triangular form with four platforms in 1905.

Bishop Auckland, the size of the magnet is 115x30mm and they come on a backing card. There are two magnets on the back, ready to stick on the fridge.

Bishop Auckland, is part of our collection of railway station magnets, click here to see the full range.

Shipping is via Royal Mail 2nd Class Large Letter post, with 1st Class Large Letter available. International post is also available.