Originally built by the North Eastern Railway to provide steam locomotives serving principally the extensive Heaton marshalling yards and freight traffic, but also a considerable proportion of main line and local passenger traffic from Newcastle Central.

The location meant that it provided motive power to the .75 miles (1.21 km) and steep Riverside Branch.

Coded 52B in the NE Region (Newcastle District) under British Railways, in 1954 it had an allocation of 95 locomotives, comprising:16x 4-6-2; 17x 2-6-2; 1x 4-4-0; 14x 2-6-0 (9 LNE + 5 LMS-type); 14x 0-6-0; 12x 2-6-2T; 1x 0-6-2T; 18x 0-6-0T; and 2x ES1's.

[citation needed] On 22 March 2022 a TransPennine Express Class 802 derailed at Heaton depot and collided with concrete barriers.

Legally in the UK, train operators are allowed to discharge 5 imperial gallons (23 L; 6.0 US gal) of sewage per carriage per journey, onto the railtrack.