Promotion of a line between Malton and Driffield dates to at least the mid 1840s when George Hudson subscribed £40,000 towards a "Malton and Driffield Junction Company", which was intended to link to a proposed branch of the Great North of England Railway from Thirsk to Malton. The Malton and Driffield Junction Railway was promoted as part of a line of communication from Hull to Newcastle-upon-Tyne and beyond to Scotland as well as opening up the agricultural districts of the East Riding of Yorkshire, and providing a short route to the new seaside resorts on the East Yorkshire coast. A connection via the proposed Thirsk and Malton Railway was required for the connections northward. Both the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway (N&DJR) and York and North Midland Railways (Y&NMR) supported the scheme.