The station was once part of the Eryholme-Richmond branch line, built by the York and Newcastle Railway in 1846. Like most of the infrastructure of the line, Scorton station was built in the Tudor Style. The station was located down the line from . The station buildings were on the 'down' side of the station on the Richmond bound platform. Passenger traffic to the station was buoyed by pupils going to and from the grammar school, passenger traffic for the Hospital of St John and God, and during the Second World War, service personnel for RAF Scorton.