The line into the town from the west was opened as the
Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway on 5 June 1846. The company that constructed it was nominally independent but, in reality, was backed financially by the
Stockton and Darlington Railway and the
Great North of England Railway, one of the constituent companies of the
North Eastern Railway. The Stockton and Darlington Railway had formally taken over by the time an extension eastwards to
Saltburn was completed in August 1861. The route diverged from the original line just short of the existing terminus, part of which remained in use for goods traffic, and a new through station had to be constructed. This was built in a similar style to that used by
G.T. Andrews elsewhere on the North Eastern Railway, with an impressive frontage and overall roof. Initially, the station had only a single platform, which led to congestion issues and delays during the summer months, when traffic levels were at their heaviest. A second platform outside the train shed was eventually provided for westbound services by the
London and North Eastern Railway in 1935. Today, the original train shed is no longer used, with a replacement eastbound platform having been constructed alongside it at the end of the 1980s. The level crossing utilised motorised wooden boom gates that swung across the road for many years. Still, these latterly became increasingly unreliable and prone to failure in high winds. In 2015,
Network Rail replaced these with telescopic metal gates — a design unique to this particular location until 20126. Similar gaes have now beenisntalled at N on the Esk Valley line.
Tees Valley Metro Starting in 2006, Redcar was mentioned within the
Tees Valley Metro scheme. This was a plan to upgrade the
Tees Valley Line and sections of the
Esk Valley Line and
Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service across the
North East of England. In the initial phases, the services would have been
heavy rail mostly along existing alignments with new additional infrastructure and rollingstock. The later phase would have introduced
tram-trains to allow street running and further heavy rail extensions. As part of the scheme, Redcar station would have received improved service to
Darlington (1–2 to 4 trains per hour) and new rollingstock.). However, due to a
change in government in 2010 and the
2008 financial crisis, the project was ultimately shelved. Several stations eventually got their improvements and there is a possibility of improved rollingstock and services in the future which may affect Redcar. ==Facilities==