Before the line's construction, several schemes had been proposed that would have resulted in a line between Scarborough and Whitby: the "Scarborough, Whitby, Stockton-on-Tees and Newcastle and North Junction Railway", from Stockton-on-Tees, via Guisborough to Whitby and then Scarborough was registered in 1845. Another scheme, the "Scarborough, Whitby and Staithes Railway", would connect to the Cleveland Railway near Skinningrove, connecting the towns of the Yorkshire coast, and of North Yorkshire; the line was opposed by the North Eastern Railway (NER), who were improving the Esk Valley Line, and it failed to be given assent in the 1864 session of Parliament.