Pelaw Metro station

Pelaw Metro station serves the Pelaw area of Gateshead, England. Situated on the Tyne and Wear Metro system, it is at the point where the Yellow and Green lines diverge, with the former continuing to South Shields and the latter over tracks shared with mainline trains to Sunderland and then onwards to South Hylton.

Pelaw Metro station is built on the site of a previous main line station, opened by the Brandling Junction Railway in 1843. It became a junction in 1850, when the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway's cut-off route from Darlington via Washington was opened. The station was rebuilt slightly to the east in 1857, but then rebuilt again on the original site in 1896 following the opening of the branch line to Hebburn in 1872; this was then extended to South Shields in 1879. This station had an island platform serving just the southern pair of tracks.

Passenger services on the Leamside Line to Durham ended in September 1963, though it remained open for through freight until 1991 and for mineral traffic to the Wardley opencast loading point for some years after. The remaining stub is now out of use and the points clamped & disconnected. In preparation for the Metro, BR passenger services were diverted onto the freight-only northern pair of tracks between here and Park Lane Junction at Gateshead, and Felling and Pelaw stations closed on 5 November 1979, being replaced by a new station at Heworth Interchange. Trains continued to run round the disused platform at Pelaw for a short period before Pelaw Junction was remodelled, after which it was demolished to make way for the Metro tracks.

Pelaw station was not initially replaced, but following the completion of new housing nearby a new station was built on the site of the old; it opened in September 1985, a year and a half after the South Shields line opened. It then became the terminus of the Yellow Line (from St James via the Coast) and the Red Line (from Benton, now discontinued). Terminating trains continued to reverse in the sidings to the east of the station. When the Sunderland extension opened, Pelaw ceased to be a terminus, except in the morning and evening peaks. A grade-separated junction (partly using the existing flyover for South Shields-bound trains) allows Metro services to join the Durham Coast line without conflicting with main line trains.

In 2006, the station was rebuilt with a new ticket hall and indoor waiting area more appropriate to its position as the transfer station between the Sunderland and South Shields branches.