4. c. cvi) gave the Clarence powers to construct branches to Wingate for the City of Durham, Sherburn and Byers Green although only the latter of these ever reached its intended destinations.

A passenger service over the GNEC&HJR was finally introduced on 13 October 1846 though this required a reversal at Thinford Junction until the NER opened a south to west curve in 1873.

[6] The service to Coxhoe along the truncated Sherburn branch was withdrawn by the NER as early as 1902 though the line remained open to goods traffic until 1966.

[7] Passenger services on the Byers Green branch were withdrawn beyond Spennymoor on 4 December 1939 and ended completely on 31 March 1952.

[1] Little remains of the former station in 2014, although freight trains still service the Lafarge cement works at Thrislington Quarry to the north, which is scheduled to be redeveloped as a landfill site.

[9] The junction between the ECML and line to Stockton & Middlesbrough remains in use, though the latter route is only open for freight traffic and occasional diversions.

After the MP for Sedgefield, Paul Howell, raised the issue in the House of Commons in June 2020,[10] a petition was launched to request the reopening of the station in August of that year[11] and, in the November, the Department for Transport awarded up to £50,000 from the Restoring Your Railway Fund for an initial study[12] to investigate the feasibility of the proposal.