On 1 September 2026, Nexus unveiled the proposals for the planned extension of the Tyne & Wear Metro to Washington. I decided to pay a visit to the route of the extension, to see what’s in store.
What’s Nexus?
Nexus is the passenger transport executive for Tyne & Wear. The announcement on 1 September concerns proposals to build a 13km Metro extension. This will run roughly south east from Pelaw to South Hylton. Both of these locations already form part of the Metro network. The extension will form a loop, effectively forming a second route between Newcastle and Sunderland, as can be seen on the schematic map below:
New stations
The proposals outline three new stations – located at Follingsby, Washington North and Washington South. After crossing the River Wear via the Victoria viaduct, the extension will travel towards and under the A19, then connect with the current network at South Hylton. The line is expected to see the first Metro trains running along it in 2033. The above map includes two options for a Metro service between South Shields and Sunderland, but these aren’t being planned at the moment. The same applies to a future service on the Leamside Line, shown in purple on the map above.
Leamside Line
The Metro extension will focus on the northern section of the Leamside Line. That purple southern section may reopen as an alternative railway between Teesside and Tyneside, via Ferryhill. However, the business case for reopening the entire Leamside Line has always been weak, and it isn’t included in the current proposals
Public engagement
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has assured Tyne & Wear residents that the upcoming Metro Washington extension consultation will form genuine engagement with the public; it won’t be a rubber-stamping exercise, confirming predetermined decisions.
My visit
I decided to visit the entire route of the Washington extension, starting at Pelaw Metro Station. About 200 metres east of the station, a footbridge affords a view of Pelaw Junction. Here’s a photograph, looking east towards the junction:
A busy place
Pelaw is the most complex junction in the North East of England. In the above photo, a metro train from South Shields to St James runs towards the camera, having just crossed the heavy rail lines, and is about to call at Pelaw station. The two tracks heading diagonally from the bottom left constitute the Leamside Line, heading for a short tunnel beneath some Metro lines, before heading out of sight to the right. The Leamside Line is mothballed right now, and you can see that the tracks are disconnected. Here’s a map of the junction:
Curses, foiled again
It was my intention to follow the trackbed of the Leamside Line as closely as possible, but there was an immediate problem. Despite most of the line having been mothballed in the early 1990s, a short section from Pelaw to Wardley was kept open until 2003 to service a colliery. The rail lines in this section are still in situ, and it is fenced off. I solved this problem by heading back to Pelaw station, taking the Metro one step to Heworth Interchange, then getting the #4 Bus from there to the Amazon site at Follingsby. There are two huge warehouses here. This is the largest of the two.
Reaching the Leamside Line
I walked east along Follingsby Lane, past both of the warehouses. Immediately past here, I reached the Leamside Line. The boundary fence of the Wardley Colliery site is immediately north of the road. A disused railway signal can be seen peeping above the undergrowth.
Follingsby Metro Station
The first of the new stations on the Metro Washington extension will be located on the other side of Follingsby Lane, It will be called, intuitively, Follingsby. The track bed can be seen heading south. The station will be located to the east of the line, i.e. the left of the photo. This should be a busy Metro stop, serving the massive Follingsby Park Industrial Estate, which includes the Amazon site.
When the going gets tough
I headed south along the track bed. A couple of caveats here. Although this path is being used by some members of the public, it isn’t a public footpath. In fact, the track bed is owned by Network Rail, and this is private property. Also, although the line was mothballed 35 years ago, the rail tracks weren’t lifted until 2013. The ballast is still fresh. Walking along it is tough going, and you risk a twisted ankle. Anyway, I put up with it for a couple of kilometres until I reached the next station site.
Washington North
The next station on the extension, Washington North, will be built on the site of Usworth railway station. When the station was built in 1864 it was in the middle of nowhere, and it’s difficult to see why the railway company built it. It lasted until 1963. But, since the construction of Sulgrave village as part of Washington New Town, the area west of the route has become well populated. Sulgrave was District 3 of Washington until the numbering system was abolished in 1983.
Manufacturing employment
There’s plenty of work in this area, at least for the moment. The mammoth Nissan car factory is about a 10-minute walk to the east, just along the A1290 Spire Road, which also links to the nearby A19. One of Nissan’s key suppliers, Marelli Automotive Systems, is also located nearby. However, there’s been a downturn in production lately. So much so that, in June 2026, Chinese carmaker Chery signed a Memorandum of Understanding to take over part of the Nissan Plant. As part of the construction of Washington North station, the A1290 will be diverted south over the railway. The station will be located behind the Heras fencing in this photograph. It’ll look good when it’s finished.
Onwards
So, I continued walking south. Fortunately, there’s a footpath/cycleway immediately west of the track bed, so I took advantage of this to spare my feet any more discomfort. I soon reached the location where the A1231 Sunderland Highway crosses the Leamside Line via a nondescript bridge. You’ll have driven along here without realising that the railway is down below.
Google Maps
The footpath continues along Horsley Road, I followed this, then I cut across the track bed on to Capesthorne Road via an allotment track. The navigation sounds a bit tricky, but it can easily be found on Google Maps. At the bottom of Capesthorne Road, I reached Station Road, always an encouraging sign on these expeditions. And, yes, it denoted that I was close to the site of the former Washington railway station. The third, and final, station on the Metro extension will be built just south of the former station. It will be named Washington South. The project developers could maybe come up with more imaginative station names than Washington North and Washington South. There’s still time. Station Road is very narrow where the railway crosses it.
George Washington didn’t sleep here
But Bryan Ferry did. He’s from Washington Station, the area around Station Road. Nearby Washington Old Hall, is the ancestral home of the first President of the United States. But the family had moved away centuries before George Washington was born.
Car Club
I headed up Stirling Road, to the site of the former Washington railway station. Here, I was fortunate to run into some members of the North East Restoration Club (NERC) who were preparing for a classic car show the following day. Their main workshop, seen below, occupies the former goods shed of the station, and car club members allowed me to look around their compound.
Goods platform
A railway goods platform can still be found next to the shed. In addition to general goods, the platform served a long-closed brickworks. The passenger station was off to the right, behind the trees. I wasn’t absolutely comfortable with the cable burning, to be honest. The club members told me that railway surveyors had already visited the premises to do advance preparation for the Metro extension, which is encouraging.
Alternative route
The route of the Leamside Line between here and the next landmark, the Victoria Viaduct, didn’t look promising as a walking route. The viaduct itself is fenced off, and most of the track bed is too. I decided on an alternative path. I continued past the NERC premises along Wilden Road. This brought me to the Tyne & Wear Heritage Way, which I followed east, down to the River Wear. This section runs along the route of the Washington Waggonway, an ancient railway built to carry coal down to staiths on the river opposite Cox Green. The waggonway preceded the Leamside Line, built in 1838, by about a century.
Victoria Viaduct
After reaching the River Wear, I followed it upstream for a few hundred metres to the Victoria Viaduct, the signature engineering feat of the Leamside Line.
Crossing the river
The map below shows how, after leaving Washington South station, Metro trains will sweep through 180° from south-west to north-east, crossing the River Wear on the Victoria Viaduct. Daytime travellers will get a view of the river, 120 feet below. At night, the floodlit Penshaw Monument will form a spectacle from the train.
New alignment
After leaving the Victoria Viaduct, the Metro extension will run on a new alignment to link up with the existing Metro at South Hylton. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, the designers wish to avoid some ancient woodland. Secondly, although the former Penshaw Branch Railway could have been considered for reopening, this is now a popular bridleway. The new alignment will run south of, and parallel to, the bridleway.
Cox Green
I headed back downstream, and crossed the footbridge across the river into Cox Green. This is a quiet, beautiful setting, way off the beaten track.
In remembrance of past times
A sign in the village points uphill to a railway station that closed 62 years ago. The Cox Green station name was spelled with one word. People weren’t precious about spelling in the 19th Century. The River Wear looks especially moody here.
Penshaw railway station
I walked uphill to the site of Cox Green Railway Station. The station won’t be reopened as part of the Metro extension. The station house survives, but it’s a private residence now, and I didn’t take a photo. I decided on another short diversion. I headed west along the track bed of the railway to the site of Penshaw station. This station doesn’t form part of the Metro Extension either, but it may get rebuilt if the wider Leamside Line project goes ahead. The former entrance can be found on the appropriately named Station Road. It can be discerned by the lighter coloured stonework.
Ancient woodland
I doubled back along the bridleway and headed for South Hylton. Some of the ancient woodland that’s going to be preserved can be seen.
Crazy Horses
But the peace and solitude doesn’t last. After another couple of kilometres, the bridleway crosses beneath the A19 via this utilitarian underpass.
Good news
Nexus is going to completely rebuild the underpass, so that there’ll be separate routes for the bridleway and the newly reinstated railway. The bridleway continues eastwards for about 300 metres before reaching South Hylton.
Road crossing
Before the Penshaw Branch Railway closed in 1964, there was a level crossing on Hylton Bank, immediately west of the station. The level crossing won’t be rebuilt. Instead, South Hylton Metro station will be shifted slightly to the east, and new road access will be built. There are two options for this. Details of the options can be found in the consultation document, linked here. Right now, there’s a pelican crossing at Hylton Bank.
End of the line. For now
Here’s my train at the buffer stops at South Hylton Metro station, waiting to head for Newcastle Airport. Whenthe Washington extension opens, it will have an alternate route to get there, by going straight ahead.
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