North Tyneside Loop

The northern leg was built by the Blyth and Tyne Railway in 1861 from Newcastle New Bridge Street to Tynemouth via Benton, although the original Blyth & Tyne route ran on a more inland course to Tynemouth from Monkseaton.

However the loop was still not completed, as the northern and southern legs of the route still ran into separate unconnected termini at Newcastle.

In 1909 the loop was finally completed when the original Blyth & Tyne terminus at New Bridge Street was closed and a line built to connect the northern leg of the route to an extended Manors station.

[3] In the late 1970s the loop was converted to form part of the Tyne and Wear Metro, which opened in stages beginning in 1980.

[4] In order for the Metro to have its own independent route into Newcastle, the southern leg of the line via Wallsend was diverted just east of Heaton Junction onto a new route which runs parallel to the East Coast Main Line, serving two new stations at Chillingham Road and Byker, then traversing the Byker Viaduct, before running underground via Manors and Monument to a new terminus at St James, and no longer serves Central Station; the northern leg does so indirectly via the underground Central Metro station.