The first railway to Croft-on-Tees was built by the coal-carrying Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) to carry coal to the yard adjacent to the bridge over the Tees at Croft, for subsequent distribution by road to North Yorkshire.

The Croft branch left the main line to the South, near Darlington Bank Top station.

[2] The section of the Great North of England Railway (GNoER) between Darlington and York opened (for goods traffic only) on 4 January 1841;[3] and passenger trains along the line were introduced on 30 March 1841,[4] when a station at Croft was opened by the GNoER, which allowed the S&DR passenger station to be closed on the same day.

[2] The GNoER, after a series of amalgamations, became part of the North Eastern Railway (NER) when that was formed in 1854.

[8] The station was demolished in 1970 leaving no trace of its existence except for the ramps from a railway bridge down to the remains of the platforms but trains still pass the site on the East Coast Main Line.