This station is on the deviation line opened by the
North Eastern Railway in 1865 to avoid the cable-worked
Beckhole Incline, which was part of the original 1836
Whitby and Pickering Railway route. It was opened as
Goathland Mill, and was so named due to its proximity to the watermill on the
Murk Esk river adjacent to the station. The original
Goathland station was located at the head of the incline, where there are still some
Y&NM cottages, together with a single
W&P one. The station buildings were to the design of the NER's architect
Thomas Prosser and were very similar to those being built concurrently (by the same contractor, Thomas Nelson) on the
Castleton to
Grosmont section of the
Esk Valley Line at
Danby,
Lealholm,
Glaisdale and
Egton. The collection of buildings is very little altered since they were built – the last recorded change (apart from
NYMR restoration) was in 1908. A tributary of the
River Esk flows close by the station.
Hornby modelled Goathland as part of the
Skaledale Junction series, which included the footbridge, waiting room and
Hogwarts Express. ==Film and television appearances==