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

Crook railway station served the town of Crook, County Durham, England. It was located on the Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway line from Bishop Auckland to Blackhill between Wear Valley Junction and Tow Law.

The Stockton and Darlington Railway backed Bishop Auckland and Weardale Railway had received Parliamentary backing to build a railway from Shildon via Bishop Auckland to the town of Crook in 1842. The line was duly completed the following year, with trains running as far as Bishop Auckland from 30 January 1843 and through to Crook from 8 November that year (albeit for goods traffic only). The exact opening date for passenger traffic isn’t known, though authorisation was granted on 3 January 1844 for services to begin – these ran initially on Thursdays-only to serve the Crook town market day (being so listed in the July 1844 issue of Bradshaw’s Railway Guide), but by January 1845 the station was in full-time use.

The S&D subsequently extended the route northwards from Crook as the Weardale Extension Railway (WXR) towards Tow Law and Waskerley in May 1845, where it joined the Stanhope and Tyne Railway. This route was built to give the Derwent Iron Company a southward outlet for its works at Consett – it included a rope-worked incline at Sunnyside and began to carry passenger traffic in 1847, which was also the year that the WXR was amalgamated with the BA&WR.

Passenger traffic on the thinly-populated part of the route north of Tow Law was never particularly plentiful (especially after the decline of industrial activity in the area from the early 1930s onwards) and services from there through to Blackhill were withdrawn by the LNER on 1 May 1939. Trains thereafter terminated at Tow Law until it in turn was closed by the British Transport Commission on 11 June 1956, leaving Crook as the terminus of passenger services from Darlington & Bishop Auckland. These went over to Diesel Multiple Unit operation in 1958 (along with most routes in the area) and whilst this initially led to an increase in passenger numbers, the station was still one of those listed for closure in Richard Beeching‘s 1963 Reshaping of British Railways report. This may well have been due to the decline in the town’s population in the wake of the closure of many of the local collieries (including the local Pease’s West pit) from 1960 onwards. Passenger services from Bishop Auckland were withdrawn on 8 March 1965 and the station closed completely four months later on 5 July when goods traffic ceased. It remained intact until the end of 1967, when the redundant route from Wear Valley Junction was finally dismantled by British Rail.

Crook Railway Station Totem Magnet, 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.

Crook Railway Station Totem Magnet, 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.