NER North Tyneside loop - Cullercoats Power Station

[Happyheth]

Up till the 1990s there was a large building beside the metro line in Cullercoats between North View and Marden Crescent. It was demolished and replaced by a nursing home, and had been derelict for many years.
My great grandfather had apparently worked there, and was listed in the 1911 census as Power Station Worker. My grandmother told me the building was a generator for the old NER electric trains that predates the diesel DMUs. Sadly I can find nothing on the Internet about this building other than on the 1919 O.S. map which says something like 'Electric Generator N.E.R.C.' but it's hard to tell.
The building was behind the 'smithy' on North View.
I would love to know more about this building and its history. Even a photo would be nice. I've read so much about the NER during my searches I feel very well informed.

 

[swt_passenger]

That would be one of the four substations on the network, that produced the 600 volts DC using motor generators (i.e. rotary converters) from the local generating company's supply. Even in 1904 the electricity supply in the north Tyneside area was robust enough for the NER to decide not to generate their own power, unlike say the future London Underground that had to develop its own power stations.

A sketch in a book I have shows five substations were originally intended, at Benton, Cullercoats, Carville, Pandon Dene (just north of Manors), and Kenton. The latter (Kenton) was never built, as it was then decided not to electrify between South Gosforth and Ponteland.

It's possible that searching for info on the other sites may lead to stuff about Cullercoats?

 

[Ploughman]

You might get a response if you try asking on the LNER site.
http://www.lner.info/

There is also the North Eastern Railway Association.
https://sites.google.com/site/northeasternrailwayassoc/
But no forum on that site.