Richmond station was the terminus of the now closed
Eryholme-Richmond branch line. In 1845, the
Great North of England Railway (GNER) was granted powers by the
Great North of England and Richmond Railway Act 1845 (
8 & 9 Vict. c. cii) to construct a branch line from Coopers House near Dalton, six miles south of Darlington, to Richmond. While construction of the line was underway the GNER was reconstituted as the
York and Newcastle Railway, and it was this company which opened the line on 1846. Although the line opened on 10 September 1846, the present station at Richmond was not opened until 9 April 1847, a temporary wooden platform being provided in the interim. The line from Dalton Junction (renamed Eryholme Junction in 1911) had stations at Moulton, Scorton and Catterick Bridge, and was double track throughout. These stations are rare in that they were designed in a
Tudor style by architect
G. T. Andrews. The exuberant architectural style of the early railway stations reflects the desire of the railway companies to promote their new form of travel as a high status experience. The line crossed the
River Swale at
Easby, and terminated in the Parish of St Martin's on the south bank of the Swale opposite the town of Richmond, as it was considered "geographically impossible" to build the railway into the town. The station layout consisted of two platforms for passenger trains, one which ended in a horse-loading dock, and the other was underneath the main trainshed. Generous facilities were provided for goods traffic, together with facilities for railway operations and staff accommodation. The principal features were: • Large goods shed • Engine shed • Gasworks • Signal box (demolished 1968) • Station Master's house • Goods Agent's house • Six staff cottages • Two goods staff cottages • Water pumping station at Sand Beck. • turntable • Fifty coal ‘drops’, which were only accessible to trains travelling through the two-road engine shed The station was listed in the
Railway Clearing House Handbook for 1904 as being able to handle horse boxes, cattle, vans and general goods, and was equipped with a crane. The railway also constructed a
road bridge over the River Swale and built a road up into the town to provide access to the station. This bridge with four Gothic arches of span and a rise, was designed by Robert Stephenson, Engineer-in-Chief of the York & Newcastle Railway and son of George Stephenson (Although some sources credit
G. T. Andrews). This bridge was almost unique in that it was a railway-owned bridge carrying a road over a river. It was taken over by the Town Council about 1920 but still retains its North Eastern Railway bridge plates – No 8. This bridge is now known as
Mercury Bridge in honour of the close association between the town and the
Royal Corps of Signals. ==After closure==