The station is 2 miles 71 chains (4.6 km) west of Barnsley on the Penistone Line between Huddersfield and Sheffield.

[4][5] The station was rebuilt by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway in the last quarter of the 19th century in their "Double Pavilion" style.

[6] Coal traffic from the adjacent mine continued to be dispatched by rail right up until its closure in 1985, but the former sidings have since been lifted and the site redeveloped.

Dodworth was reopened as a single platform station, with car parking facilities from the commencement of the new timetable on 15 May 1989.

[8] The station is unstaffed and has only basic facilities (a waiting shelter, timetable information posters and bench seating).