Newark North Gate station is a Grade II listed building, achieving the status on 20 May 1988. Also Grade II listed are the former offices at the south end of the platform, achieving listed status on 13 August 1992.
The station is on the Great Northern Railway Towns Line from Peterborough to Doncaster which opened on 15 July 1852, the easier to construct Fens Loop Line via Boston and Lincoln had opened two years earlier.
The station was opened without any ceremony. The first train of passengers from the north arrived at 6.38am and those from the south arrived at 8.05am. The buildings comprised a booking-office, cloak room, first and second class ladies’ and other waiting rooms. A large refreshment room measuring 51ft (16m) by 21ft (6.4m) was also available, as was a smaller one 21ft (6.4m) by 14ft (4.3m). The platforms were 435ft (133m) long, with awnings provided for 50ft (15m) of their length. There was a coal depot, goods warehouse and sheds to accommodate 4 locomotives.
The station became a junction in 1879 with the opening of the Great Northern Railway branch to Bottesford, built as a northern extension of the Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway which opened at the same time. Services from Newark were provided to Northampton or Leicester and also to Nottingham. Services onto the joint line from Newark were withdrawn by 1922. The line was much used for through goods, especially between Newark and Northampton. The joint line closed in 1962 except for isolated fragments, but the Newark to Bottesford Junction section survived until 1988. It is on this line that the cache is available. You can still see the former platform, now on the ouside of the station fence.
On 9 July 1928, King George V and Queen Mary arrived at the station from King’s Cross where they were received by the 6th Duke of Portland.
The short connection to the Newark Castle to Lincoln line was opened in 1965 by British Rail to maintain a link between the East Coast Main Line and Lincoln following the closure of the branch from the latter to Grantham. This remains in use today by trains to Lincoln and Grimsby.
There is significant ambiguity about the correct form of the station's name. Different station name signs on the platforms say "Newark North Gate" or "Newark Northgate". On exiting the station, the old British Rail sign says just "Northgate" and road signs towards the station say 'Northgate'. National Rail timetables show Newark North Gate.
There was a previous geocache at this location which can be found here.