Sandsend railway station was located on the Whitby, Middlesbrough and Redcar Union Railway, some 4 miles 2 chains (6.5 km) north west of Whitby West Cliff and 12 miles 64 chains (20.6 km) south east of Loftus.

This made Sandsend, the only one of the seven stations between, and including Whitby and Loftus, which did not have a passing loop.

[4][7] A small goods yard with a warehouse and a 2-tonne (2.2-ton) crane was situated 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the station at East Row, towards Whitby.

[2] In October 2020 the Mulgrave Estate, owners of the land that the station covered, successfully applied to site railway coaches on the platform as holiday accommodation.

[12] In the 1947 British comedy drama Holiday Camp, the opening shots of a train arriving at a seaside cliff-top station and passengers boarding buses outside the station were filmed at Sandsend.