[6] By around 1860, the NER had converted the ex-D&SR network to locomotive haulage[7] and Ryhope's passenger services were diverted to new northern termini at Hendon in 1858 and then Sunderland Central in 1879.

[2] On 19 August 1889, a Liverpool to Newcastle express train derailed while rounding the sharp curve at the foot of Seaton Bank at too high a speed, injuring 101 passengers.

[2] The NER also issued an instruction that all passenger trains descending Seaton Bank must momentarily stop at the new Ryhope station so as to ensure drivers control their speed during the descent.

Close to the station was a siding serving a brickworks while a branch to Ryhope and Silksworth Collieries diverged from the ex-D&SR line a short distance to the north.

[10] The LNER came under the control of the North Eastern Region of British Railways following its nationalisation in 1948 and, by this time, the decline in rail passenger and goods traffic was becoming more serious.

Nonetheless, BR initially reinstated the hourly service on the Pittington line (previously reduced during World War II) but appears to have been unsuccessful and ticket sales at both Ryhope stations amounted to only 6,917 by 1911.

[14] Still, the northern section of the former West Hartlepool line was retained through Ryhope to provide a northerly outlet for coal from South Hetton and Hawthorn Collieries[14] until 1991.