They were built on the south bank of the River Tyne, in the western outskirts of Dunston in Gateshead.

The A Station was, in its time, one of the largest in the country, and as well as burning coal had early open cycle gas turbine units.

Electricity from the stations powered an area covering Northumberland, County Durham, Cumberland, Yorkshire and as far north as Galashiels in Scotland.

[3][4] Construction of the new station began in 1908, the work undertaken by the company of Sir Robert McAlpine.

[3][9] The turbo alternators were supplied with steam from 24 coal burning Babcock & Wilcox marine water-tube boilers.

In 1925, NESCo set up separate plant at the power station for the low temperature carbonisation treatment of coal, before being burned in boilers and the steam used for electricity generation.

The carbonising plant could handle up to 100 tonnes of coal per day, while its boilers produced 78,000 lb of steam per hour.

[3][13][14] The gas was supplied by pipe line from the Norwood Coke Works, 1.5 mi (2.4 km) away in the Team Valley.

[16] As part of a transition from the 40 Hertz (Hz) system, used by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Electric Supply Company, to the 50 Hz system, used by the new UK National Grid, which took place in 1932, a new power station was built to replace the A power station.

[1] This was a departure from the usual power station designs, which normally enclosed the machinery in a concrete or brick wall.

Since the station's closure, this line has been upgraded for use by passenger trains and is now used as part of the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway.

[33] The land on which the MetroCentre was built was bought for only £100,000, because the site was water-logged and had been used for dumping ash produced by the power station.

American warehouse club chain Costco have since built a store on the actual site of the power station.

[35] The power station's six chimneys were a prominent local landmark, visible from along a 8.6-mile (13.8 km) stretch of the Tyne valley running from Bensham in Gateshead to Heddon-on-the-Wall in Northumberland.

[36] When in operation, the B station briefly featured in Get Carter, a 1971 crime film starring Michael Caine.