Stop 8: Tram Terminus Hills Street

Greenesfield Works ("Ochre Yards")

Greenesfield Locomotive Works, and Gateshead engine shed was one of the sheds which provided express engines for the East Coast Main Line. They were built for the North Eastern Railway, which was formed in 1854. Greenesfield Works was originally built as the Tyneside terminus for the main line from York and the south. Trains had to terminate there until the High Level Bridge was opened in 1849 when trains were able to bypass Gateshead station and travel straight across to Newcastle.

The redundant station-building was extended and converted to be an engine-building works. It was the NER's main engine-building works, and was used to build most of its larger engines. The site eventually proved too cramped, and all engine building was moved to the Darlington works in 1910. Greenesfield works continued to do repairs till 1932, and again from World War II till its final closure in 1959.