IN THE 17th and 18th Centuries, wooden wagonways called Newcastle roads were the first railways in the world. Developed in the North-East, they transported coal on horse-drawn wagons from Durham mines to the River Tyne.

In the 19th Century, locomotives replaced horses and were developed in the region at places such as Hetton Colliery.

Then in 1825, County Durham played yet another important role in railway development when the Stockton and Darlington Railway became the first passenger railway in the world.

Railways had an enormous impact on the North-East, reducing journey times and stimulating economic and industrial growth.

Durham City lay at the heart of this railway region, but railways never had such a profound effect in the city as they had in the industrial areas. Nevertheless, railways were important in bringing the city closer to the outside world and today the railway sweeps above the city's skyline, where its station and viaduct provide one of the most impressive views of the cathedral and castle.

Durham's present railway station was only one of a number that served the city, and there was also more than one viaduct. At least four separate railway stations provided services to the city at one time or another, and three of the buildings, including the present railway station, still survive.

The first station to serve Durham City was at Shincliffe village. It was the western terminus of a line from Sunderland, constructed by the Sunderland Dock Company in 1831.

Initially, this line terminated at Sherburn House Station, near Sherburn Hospital, with the intention of extending the line to Old Elvet.

Unfortunately, objections were made about this particular route, so the line was taken to Shincliffe.

It was here that Durham City's first railway station opened on June 28, 1839. The line approached Shincliffe from the east, crossing the village's main street near the Railway Tavern, a 19th Century pub that closed in the early 1990s.

The station stood almost opposite the tavern on the northern side of the railway and was known, rather misleadingly, as Shincliffe Town Station. It was the first of two stations to be built at Shincliffe.

The Shincliffe line was called the Sunderland and Durham Railway. It started at Sunderland and went through Ryhope, Murton, Hetton-le-Hole, Pittington and Sherburn House. From Shincliffe, a wagonway then extended the line across the river by a bridge to Houghall Colliery and then, after passing through a short tunnel beneath some woodland, terminated at Croxdale pit.

Branches were also constructed on this line to mines at Whitwell, Old Durham and Shincliffe Colliery.

The Sunderland and Durham Railway was primarily a colliery railway but it also catered for passengers. Locomotives operated some stretches of this line, while stationary engines - for hauling wagons up inclines - operated other sections.

In one stretch, between Murton and Hetton, carriages and wagons descended "free fall" under the influence of gravity.

The Sunderland and Durham Railway was only a local line. The main line from London did not reach Durham City from the south until the middle of the 1840s.

It was the railway entrepreneur George Hudson who built the main line northwards from York from around 1841. Near Durham, his line was what we know today as the Leamside line, and lies to the east of the city. In his time, Hudson's line was called the Newcastle and Durham Junction Railway and became part of the North Eastern Railway in the early 1850s.\par The present main line to the west of Durham was built at a later date.

At Shincliffe Bank Top (or High Shincliffe), a railway station was built on the Leamside line in 1844. It still exists and is a private house alongside the railway. Until recent times, it served as a restaurant.

The station was known as Shincliffe York British Station, or Shincliffe Bank Top Station, and is a considerable distance from Durham, half way between Bowburn and Shincliffe village.

In the same year that Shincliffe station was built, a branch line was brought into Durham that resulted in the first railway station in the city itself.

This branch left the Leamside line at Belmont Junction and headed west into the city, where it more or less followed the course of the present A690. It terminated at Gilesgate Station, now a hotel near the Gilesgate roundabout.\par Shincliffe Bank Top and Gilesgate stations were both built in stone by the architect JT Andrews, from York, and both are rather attractive buildings that look more Georgian than Victorian.

Gilesgate was the mainline passenger station for Durham in the mid-19th Century but it was later reduced to goods only when two new stations were built in the city. We will discover more about these in next week's Durham Memories.

l The history of Durham features prominently in my new book titled North-East England: places, history, people and legends, published by Business Education Publishers of Sunderland. It is available in bookshops.

Published: 09/05/2003

If you have any memories of Durham City, Chester-le-Street, Derwentside or the Durham coast, including old photos or stories of people and places you would like to share with readers of The Northern Echo, write to David Simpson, Durham Memories, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF or email David.Simpson@nne.co.uk. All photos will be returned.