It was originally planned to have been open on 1 June 1857, but negotiations with the Eastern Counties Railway, which would operate the line, delayed it until 1 December 1857.

[3][4] They hoped that the railway would help reverse the declining fortunes of the town, whose inability to take ships of increasing size saw it overtaken by other ports.

[8][9] The line came from Heacham on an 18+1⁄2-mile (29.8 km) single track aimed at exploiting the great arc of coastline between Hunstanton and Yarmouth.

[12] The main red brick two-storey L-shaped Georgian-style station buildings were constructed at right angles to the platform ends and incorporated a stationmaster's residence.

This lay just to the north of the station, and was capable of accommodating the former Great Eastern's "Claud Hamilton" locomotives and other 4-4-0 classes, but not the B12s or other large engines.

[16] The post-war boom experienced by the King's Lynn to Hunstanton line was not felt on the West Norfolk Junction Railway, whose inconveniently sited stations contributed to declining passenger traffic.

In the North Sea flood of 1953, the track between Wells and Holkham was so severely damaged that British Railways considered it not worth repairing and the line was closed completely between these two places.