When a modern road to the south was built in the 1930s, transits from Lybster were considerably shorter and quicker by that means, and the railway closed completely in 1944.

The fishing village of Lybster lies 13 miles (21 km) to the south of Wick, and up to the end of the nineteenth century was relatively inaccessible on land.

Wick was one of the northern termini of the Far North Line from Inverness, owned and operated at the time by the Highland Railway.

An application was made for a Light Railway Order, Caithness County Council taking the lead in submitting it on 5 March 1896.

The Highland Railway agreed to take charge of the construction, but they were clearly unwilling to let any shortfall in funding fall to them.

When the burgh of Wick voted to prohibit the sale of alcohol, some passenger traffic was generated by drinkers who travelled to Lybster to do so.

It had been built in 1890 by David Jones as a saddle tank; it was given a second-hand boiler, and in 1901 it had been altered to a side-tank configuration.

A new bay platform for the branch trains was provided at Wick station, on the north side of the line.

From Wick the line rose almost continuously, with a ruling gradient of 1 in 50, to a summit 100 metres (328 ft) above sea level just before the 7 milepost (i.e. 11 km).

[6] John Skene who drove the first train on the opening day of the railway in 1903 started the engine for the last trip on 1 April 1944.

[7] A large party of people gathered at Lybster station for the last train which was decked with flags for the occasion.