Spurn Point is a narrow spit of land which protrudes south and south-westwards from the eastern edge of Yorkshire into the Humber Estuary.

[6][b] The War Department decided that a railway line between Kilnsea and Spurn Point would be the best option for a supply chain[7] and so purchased the land from the local land-owning family.

[8] The line was constructed by C. J. Wills and Company with rails and other secondhand materials from the Great Central and Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railways.

[11] Local people who lived on the point used windpower to 'sail' small home made bogie wagons up and down the railway,[12][13] with some notable crashes off the rails and into trains coming the other way.

[3] The railway was also home to an adapted Itala racing car with flanged wheels that was capable of going at 60 miles (97 km) per hour.