18t8.J 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



353 



THE CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION, NEWCASTLE- 

 UPON-TYNE. 



John Dobson, Esq., Architect. 

 ( With an Engraving, Plate XIII. J 



Railway buildings ought to do much for architecture : beinn; 

 quite a new class of structures, erected for purposes unknown 

 until the present age, or, we may say, the present generation, 

 they suggest, or ought to suggest, a character of their own, and 

 fresh combinations in design ; and heing generally upon an extensive 

 scale, they afford opportunities that have hitherto been of rare 

 occurrence. They are, moreover, especially public works — struc- 

 tures constantly seen by thousands and tens of thousands of per- 

 sons ; and might, therefore, do much towards improving the taste 

 of the public. That they have done so, or have been calculated 

 to do so, cannot, we fear, be asserted of them generally. In moie 

 than one instance, expression has been falsified or forfeited by the 

 adoption of some style intended to he reminiscent of medievalism — 

 of times whose spirit and whose institutions contrast very strongly 

 with the present railway age, in which it is either our good luck 

 or our misfortune to live. All the various modes of Gothic are 

 very ill adapted to buildings totally diiferent in purpose, and, 

 therefore requiring to be differently constituted from those in 

 which such modes are exempliiied. Either violence — or what is 

 likely to be thought such — must be done to the style itself, by de- 

 viating greatly from its traditional physiognomy, or mediaeval phy- 

 siognomy will be in contradiction to modern purpose. The cha- 

 racter aimed at may be well kept up ; but in proportion that it is 

 so, it will be foreign from the express occasion — for what class of 

 medieval structures are there that have aught in common with 

 railway stations and termini ? Is it the castellated with its 

 feudal fortresses } — or the ecclesiastical with its churches and con- 

 ventual buildings, its priories and abbeys .'' — or the palatial, or 

 the collegiate, or the domestic? Is there any one of those styles 

 or classes which supplies what is required for railway structures as 

 a specific class, that ouglit to carry with tliem a distinct and appro- 

 priate character of their own .'' The Gothic style does not readily 

 provide open external halls or ambulatories, which, if not indi- 

 spensably demanded, are higlily desirable adjuncts to every prin- 

 cipal railway station where there is a great confluence of passen- 

 gers. It is only in the form of the cloister that Gothic examples 

 supply any accommodation of that kind ; and, besides that the 

 cloister or arcade was hardly ever made an external feature, it is 

 one tliat carries with it associations that, unless it were to be 

 greatly modified, rather unfit than at all recommend it. 



The accompanying engraving (Plate XIII.) is a plan of the 

 magnificent Station that has lately been constructed at Newcastle- 

 upon-Tyne (under the direction of Mr. John Dobson, architect of 

 Newcastle), for the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway Com- 

 pany. 



It will be in the recollection of our readers, that at Newcastle 

 the great eastern trunk line of railway from London to Edin- 

 burgh is intersected by a main line of railway extending across 

 the island, from sea to sea ; that is to say, from Maryport, on the 

 Irish Channel, to Tynemouth, on the German Ocean. The traffic 

 of this cross line has lately been added to that of the original line 

 from York to Berwick, by the leasing of the Newcastle and Car- 

 lisle, and Carlisle and Maryport Railways, to the York, Newcastle, 

 and Berwick Company ; and the local traffic of the great northern 

 mining district gives employment to branches from Newcastle to 

 North Shields and Tynemouth, to South Shields and to Sunder- 

 land. Thus, with the despatch of the through trains, at least 

 140 arrivals and departures of passenger trains will take place 

 daily at the central station; and it is to provide for this immense 

 accumulation of traffic that the present building is required. It 

 will readily be imagined, therefore, that the sheds and erections 

 must necessarily be upon a scale of no ordinary magnitude. In 

 the infancy of the railway system, no one could have ventured to 

 predict the extent to which the inland traffic has increased ; and 

 we have, therefore, seen the great expense which has been incurred 

 by the London and North Western and other railway companies 

 to obtain additional room for their principal stations, and the great 

 sacrifice of valuable property which has in consequence taken 

 place. The York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway Company, 

 however, having had the benefit of the experience of later years, 

 have taken great pains to select a site where the necessary extent 

 of ground can be obtained, with the most ready access to the centre 

 of the town ; and they have been fortunate enough to find a spot 

 which, at a very reasonable cost, and with the destruction of very 



No. 135.— Vol. XI.— December, 1848. 



few buildings, combines both these advantages. The manner in 

 which the junction of the northern and soiithern with the eastern 

 and western lines has been effected, — and the great works required 

 to complete the union of the whole, by means of the high level 

 bridge over the Tyne viaduct, through Newcastle and Gateshead, 

 from the designs of Mr. Robert Stephenson, and under the able 

 management of Mr. Thomas Harrison,^form too exten>ive a sub- 

 ject to be treated of here, and will probably be the object of a 

 separate notice. 



The identity of the central points of the great railway system 

 of this period with the central points of the military occupation of 

 the country by the Normans, has been, in many instances, strik- 

 ingly exemplified ; and in none more so than at York, Newcastle, 

 and Berwick, in each of which towns the railway station closely 

 adjoins the Castle. The station at Newcastle extends from West- 

 moreland-place, the ancient town-house of the illustrious family of 

 the Nevilles, Earls of Westmoreland, situate in Westgate-street ; 

 takes in the site of the convent and garden of the Carmelites or 

 AV'hite Friars, known as tlie Spital, for many years occupied as the 

 Royal Free Grammar Scliool, the alma mater of Lord Stowell, Lord 

 Eldon, and Lord Collingwood ; crosses the town-wall and ditch 

 at West Spital Tower, and terminates at the Forth, an open piece 

 of ground formerly in the outslvirts of the town, and which was 

 bequeathed by some worthy of former days to the burgesses of 

 Newcastle, " to walk abroad and recreate themselves," a circum- 

 stance which has hitherto prevented its being built upon. 



The facade or principal front, exclusive of the hotel, is GOO feet 

 in length. The style of the huilding is Roman, and the most 

 striking feature in the design is the portico in the centre, 200 

 feet in length by 70 feet in width, flanked on each side by an arcade 

 the same length, by 35 feet in vvidtli, allowing sufficient room for 

 carriages to drive in at the end of each arcade, to turn, and go out 

 at each end of the projecting part of the portico. The conve- 

 nience of this plan in such a climate as ours, allowing passengers 

 and luggage to be loaded and unloaded under cover, will at once be 

 apparent : and the grandeur of the effect produced by an arcade 

 and portico of this length will readily be comprehended, even by 

 the general reader, although no drawing will convey an adequate 

 idea of that effect. 



Tlie exterior front of the portico is composed of seven arches, 

 each 14 feet in width by 32 feet in height, divided by coupled in- 

 sulated Doric columns, 29 feet in height, elevated on a basement 

 of 7i| feet, and supporting a broken entablature and attic of the 

 same style. The arcades on each side are formed of arches, of the 

 same width as the portico, divided by coupled inserted columns. 

 These columns, with the key-stones of the arches, sup])ort a con- 

 tinued unbroken entablature, without an attic. The ends of the 

 arcades terminate in front in a niche, having coupled insulated co- 

 lumns on each side, supporting an entablature and low attic. The 

 entrance to the end of each arcade is by an arch 25 feet in width, 

 and the arcades will be covered with groined ceilings of stone, 

 with a circular light at each intersection. 



Tlie front of the station-liouse facing the platform is concave, 

 forming the segment of a circle of 800 feet radius. This form was 

 rendered necessary by the junction of the various lines of railway 

 at this point ; and the elevation is of rubble stone, from Prudham 

 Quarry, of a plain and bold Roman eliflracter, the doors and win- 

 dows having arched heads, with moulded imposts and archivolts ; . 

 and the long-continued line of these circular arches, with their 

 deep reveals, produces a striking effect. 



The shed is 236 yards long, and 61 yards wide, covering an area 

 of 14,426 yards, or about three acres. The roof is composed of 

 iron, divided into three compartments, and supported by columns 

 33 feet apart, and 23 feet high from the platform to tlie springing 

 of the roof. The various offices, waiting-rooms, and refreshment- 

 rooms front tlie platform, with the exception of the booking- 

 office and parcels-offices, which extend the full width of the 

 building. 



The entrance to the shed is, from the centre of the portico, 40 

 feet wide, with a stone vaulted ceiling, supported by two rows of 

 columns, which leads direct to the centre of the platform, about 

 120 feet square. On the right hand is the booking-office, 70 feet 

 long by 36 feet wide; adjoining which are the two parcels-offices, 

 the telegraph-office, lamp-room, and other rooms and offices ex- 

 tending westward, for the engineers, guards, porters, and other 

 officers of the company. A house for the station-master concludes 

 the front range of buildings to the west. 



On the left of the entrance is the station-master's office, first, 

 second, and third class waiting-rooms, (containing separate apart- 

 ments for ladies and gentlemen), bashing-rooms, attendants' rooms, 

 and other requisites. Adjoining this suite of rooms is the first- 



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