Construction of the HD&R was first authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained on 1 June 1832 which granted the railway company powers to construct a 14-mile railway from Moorsley (near Houghton-le-Spring) to Hartlepool as well as a number of short branches to serve collieries surrounding the line and a further Act of 16 June 1834 authorised an additional branch to Gilesgate in the City of Durham.

A signal box had been built on the east side of the tracks, just south of the road bridge, when the Castle Eden Branch first opened in 1877.

Originally called Castle Eden North Junction, it was renamed Wellfield when the station opened and, in 1910, was replaced by a new signal box at the northern end of the southbound (eastern) platform.

[6] Despite this low usage Wellfield, being located close to two large villages and being served by trains on two lines, was fairly well used; in 1911 there were 37,551 tickets issued at the station.

After the Second World War, the northbound track of this line was, on several occasions, used to store surplus wagons, making it only passable to southbound trains.

[7] Indeed, a single line was maintained through the station site[4] to provide a southerly outlet for coal from South Hetton and Hawthorn Collieries until around the time of the 1984 miner's strike.