The railway company opened the Yacht Club Hotel at the southern end of the station in 1866, intended mainly for passengers on the ocean-going ships that called at Dartmouth at that time.

Goods trains were run to Kingswear from 2 April 1866 and these proved to be of great importance, not just in shipping goods out by sea, but also in carrying coal landed at Kingswear to the gas works at Hollacombe between Paignton and Torquay railway stations.

The line had been built using the 7 ft (2,134 mm) broad gauge, but on 21 May 1892 was closed for the weekend to be converted to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge; the 28 men responsible for the work in the area were accommodated in the station's goods shed, which was situated on the river side of the main station train shed.

New sidings were laid in 1894 and a signal box opened to control the trains; the following year more sidings were laid on land reclaimed from the river north of the station and a long footbridge constructed over the station to carry a footpath to the shore of the river.

Those at Longwood and Noss being demolished after the line was moved inland around the creeks on 20 May 1923, and Hoodown Viaduct, just outside the station, was replaced by a double-track steel structure in 1928.

[1] On 20 October 1968 the signal box was closed and the following month it was formally proposed that the line from Paignton should be closed entirely but instead, on 30 December 1972, the line was sold to the Dart Valley Light Railway plc, which operated a nearby heritage railway at Buckfastleigh.