North Tyneside Loop
The North Tyneside Loop refers to the railway lines in North Tyneside from Newcastle upon Tyne via Wallsend, North Shields, Whitley Bay, Backworth, Benton and South Gosforth back to Newcastle. Since the 1980s, it has formed part of the Tyne and Wear Metro, albeit in modified form. History The loop emerged from two competing railways which were built from Newcastle to Tynemouth, and was not completed until 1909: the southern leg of what became the loop was built by the Newcastle and North Shields Railway in 1839 from via Wallsend; although initially terminating at North Shields, it was extended to Tynemouth in 1847. The northern leg was built by the Blyth and Tyne Railway in 1861 from to Tynemouth via Benton, although the original Blyth & Tyne route ran on a more inland course to Tynemouth from Monkseaton. Initially both railways had separate terminus stations at Tynemouth, but both lines had been taken over by the North Eastern Railway (NER) by the 1870s. In 1882, the NER built a new coastal route from Monkseaton to Tynemouth via Whitley Bay, abandoning the original Blyth and Tyne inland route, and this allowed both legs of the route to join head on at