It opened as Gate Helmsley in 1848 and was renamed Holtby in 1872.

It first appeared in timetables in June 1848, after the railway between York and Market Weighton had already been opened on 1 October 1847.

It had two platforms and on the down side an L-shaped brick-built station building designed by George Townsend Andrews which incorporated the stationmasters' home and the station offices.

The goods yard had only two sidings, one of them serving coal drops.

This article on a railway station in Yorkshire and the Humber is a stub.