Built by the North Eastern Railway, it ran from Deerness Valley Junction, on the Durham to Bishop Auckland line, to the coal mines along the valley via two intermediate stations, Waterhouses, and Ushaw Moor.
[1] The line was primarily built to serve the collieries at Ushaw Moor, Waterhouses, Hamsteels, Esh, Cornsay, New Brancepeth and East Hedley Hope, and was opened to passengers only as an afterthought.
Beyond the East Hedley Hope junction, the line was known as Stockton and Darlington Railway Deerness Valley Branch, with the rope worked Stanley Inclines giving access to Stanley Drifts and Wooley Colliery.
This section was built for Joseph Pease and Partners, the owners of Waterhouses Colliery who also owned the industrial complex at Bank Foot.
[2] The entire line closed to passengers on 29 October 1951, and to freight on 28 December 1964.