The city of Durham has been served by four stations, only one of which survives today: •
Shincliffe (called Shincliffe Town from 1861): located in nearby
Shincliffe, this station was built in 1839 and was served by the
Durham and Sunderland Railway, using rope haulage until 1856. It closed when Elvet station opened in the city centre. A second station,
Shincliffe, on the
Leamside to Ferryhill line, was opened in 1844; it closed to passengers in 1941. •
Durham (Gilesgate): opened in 1844 and within the city boundaries, it was served by a branch from Belmont on the
Leamside Line, then the main line from London to Newcastle. Passenger services finished in 1857 with the opening of the current station on the branch from Leamside to Bishop Auckland, but it continued in use as a
goods shed until final closure in 1966. Today, it has been redeveloped as a
Travelodge hotel, while the serving track was used in the realignment of the
A690 Gilesgate by-pass road. •
Durham: in 1857, a station at the current location and viaducts over North Road and the
River Browney immediately to the south were built by the
North Eastern Railway, on their
Leamside to Bishop Auckland line to . The station was redeveloped in 1871, when the North Eastern Railway developed a new line from
Tursdale through Relly Mill Junction to Durham, and onwards from Newton Hall Junction through to Newcastle Central, via the
Team Valley. This became the current East Coast Main Line on 15 January 1872. •
Durham (Elvet): in 1893, the Durham-Sunderland branch was diverted from Shincliffe Town to a new station at Elvet, within the city's boundaries. It was closed to regular passenger services in 1931 and fully closed in 1953. On grouping in 1923, the stations came under the control of the
London and North Eastern Railway. Passenger services to and via
Penshaw were withdrawn by
British Railways, under the
Beeching cuts, on 4 May 1964. The East Coast Main Line through Durham was
electrified in 1991. ==Facilities==