The station was opened by the Stockton and Darlington Railway as the terminus of their line from Redcar on 17 August 1861 (although the ornate station building was not finished until the following year). Eleven years later, the North Eastern Railway opened a line towards Brotton (the Whitby Redcar and Middlesbrough Union Railway) from the town, but this diverged from the original route some west of the 1861 station in order to avoid excessively steep gradients further east. This meant the passenger trains from the town to Loftus and Whitby that started in 1875 had to reverse into and out of the terminus before regaining the correct direction at Saltburn West Junction. This line is still in operation today to serve the Skinningrove Steelworks and the Boulby potash mine, although passenger trains ceased in 1958.