The weighing machine house (WMH) was built c. 1835,[note 1] before the whole track was completed to Pickering, as it served stone brought down the Esk Valley, providing revenue for the fledgling railway.

[3] Contemporary pictures of the building show a view looking north with Whitby Abbey on a hill in the distance.

[9][note 2] The weighing machine apparatus was installed underneath the track, and acted a lever which had a counterbalanced weight inside the building.

[5] The building was designed by Frederick Swanwick (the engineer who built the W&PR deputising for George Stephenson), but was built by John Bolton, an architect who operated out of Whitby, with the weighing machine apparatus was supplied by Kitchens of Warrington.

[14][note 3] The site is publicly accessible from a path that parallels the riverbank starting at the southern end of the Port of Whitby.