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Now privately owned, what was the station master's house for West Auckland's railway station was built in 1871 at the junction between the original 1825 Stockton and Darlington Railway and a branch line opened in 1856 to bypass the Brusselton Incline.
This quiet rural station, serving both St Helen's Auckland and West Auckland, replaced a station halt with just a simple timber platform that had been set up in 1833 when the S&DR started running their own passenger services via Brusselton to Shildon and beyond.
Before this date passengers either hitched a ride on one of the frequent coal trains that had been running down the Etherley Incline since 1825 and along the Haggerleases branchline since 1830, or they bought a ticket for a horse-drawn coach operated by one of the public houses in St Helen's Auckland.
The classic rural railway station focused around a house for the stationmaster developed from the way that the S&DR constructed domestic accommodation for their staff in the 1820s to supervise coal depots along the line, and many of them ended up becoming railway stations.
The 1871 railway station remained in use until British Rail closed the line to passenger services on 18 June 1962.
The station master's house at West Auckland was built in 1871 at the junction between the original Stockton and Darlington Railway from 1825 and a branch line opened in 1856 that bypassed the steep Brusselton Incline. This rural station served both St Helen's Auckland and West Auckland and replaced a simple timber platform established in 1833 when the Stockton and Darlington Railway began operating its own passenger services.
Before 1833, passengers had limited choices for travel. Some rode on coal trains running along the Etherley Incline and the Haggerleases branch line, while others relied on horse-drawn coaches operated by local inns in St Helen's Auckland. The concept of rural stations centred around a house for the station master grew out of the railway's early practice of providing accommodation for staff supervising coal depots. Many of these locations later evolved into full stations. The West Auckland station remained in use until British Rail closed the line to passenger services on 18 June 1962.
