[6] The NER initiated a programme of improvements to ex-HD&R and ex-D&SR lines during the 1870s: in 1874, the tracks up the original 1 in 34 rope-worked incline at Hesleden Bank were realigned to ease the gradients and enable locomotive working[7] and, in 1877, a chord was built at Haswell to allow through passenger trains to run between the ex-HD&R and ex-D&SR networks, creating a direct route between West Hartlepool and Sunderland.

The station offices were located on a widened road bridge over the tracks and were linked to the two platforms by covered stairways.

However, in the year that the station was opened, Shotton Grange Colliery [8] and its waggonway closed[5] (the limited technology of the time was unable to extract coal economically from the depths at which it was present)[1] meaning that the village lost its main source of employment.

[4] Despite the improvements of the 1870s, the route through Shotton Bridge continued to provide a steep and indirect route between West Hartlepool and Sunderland and so, on 1 April 1905, the NER opened a new coastal line linking the former Londonderry, Seaham & Sunderland Railway at Seaham with the ex-HD&R line near the coast at Hart.

By this time, passenger and goods traffic across the country was in decline and this was also the case for the route from West Hartlepool to Sunderland through Shotton Bridge.

The route lost its stopping passenger services (south of Murton) on 9 June 1952[9] and though many of the stations on the line remained open to goods traffic until 1966,[4] the lack of goods handling facilities meant that Shotton Bridge station closed completely when passenger services ceased.