Thornaby, originally South Stockton, is a railway station on the Tees Valley Line, which runs between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington.

The station, situated 3 miles 17 chains (5.2 km) south-west of Middlesbrough, serves the market town of Thornaby-on-Tees, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, England.

The station lies on the original Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) extension to Port Darlington, developed from 1828 under the instructions of influential Quaker banker, coal mine owner and S&DR shareholder Joseph Pease, who had sailed up the River Tees to find a suitable new site down river of Stockton on which to place new coal staithes.

As a result, in 1829 he and a group of Quaker businessmen bought 527 acres (213 ha) of land described as "a dismal swamp",[1] and established the Middlesbrough Estate Company.

However, in 1892 Parliament granted a charter that created the Borough of Thornaby-on-Tees, which incorporated the village of Thornaby and South Stockton, and so on 1 November 1892 the name of the station was also changed.

The main station structure had a glass-covered entrance in a unique design of ironwork, which led to a booking office and waiting rooms for four classes.

The platform canopies were also of an ironwork design unique to Thornaby, but lost their glass when a wartime German bomb fell close to the station.

This resulted in a £500,000 refurbishment in 2003 led by Arriva Trains Northern, the Strategic Rail Authority and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council, including the addition of waiting rooms for the first time in 25 years.

There are an enlarged car park, a heated waiting room, a staffed ticket office, a shop, VDU displays and better lighting and security.

[7][8][9][10] As part of the scheme, Thornaby station would have received improved service to Darlington and Saltburn (1–2 to 4 trains per hour) as well as to Nunthorpe and Hartlepool, possibly a street-running link to Guisborough and the Headland, and new rollingstock.