It runs northwards from Hull Paragon via Beverley and Driffield to Bridlington, joining the York–Scarborough line at a junction near Seamer before terminating at Scarborough railway station.

[note 2] This, and a desire to control the H&S's main line into Hull led the Y&NMR to seek and obtain a lease on the H&S.

[2][note 5] A connection between the Hull–Bridlington and Bridlington–Seamer lines was obtained by exploiting the maximum deviations of the submitted plans.

[7] By July 1845 Hull and Selby was leased to the York and North Midland, but was responsible for constructing the Bridlington branch line, as a result a joint committee was formed of directors of both businesses.

[map 2] Construction of stations and other buildings was contracted (for three sections) to Simminson & Hutchinson, Brown and Hall, and Samuel Atack, at a total of £73,580.

[8] The original junction with the Hull and Selby Railway allowed trains to run into Manor House Street station.

[9] The main stations on the section were Beverley, Driffield, and Bridlington; the stations consisted of a two platform train shed supporting an overall roof, with hipped ends, supported by an iron truss construction;[note 7] the main station buildings were built parallel and abutting to one wall of the trainshed, single storeyed, and of an approximately symmetrically appearance; the main entrance was central.

[10] The general large station design include water tank(s) on the platform raised on brick structures containing men's toilets.

Beverley was built with a 60 feet (18 m) double span trainshed, supported in the middle by cast iron columns.

The roofs were also hipped as at the station, but with wooden trusses; architectural detailing included round headed arched exits and entrances and matching diocletian windows.

[6] Construction of the line was let in two contracts, divided at Filey; both were let to Richard and Joseph Crawshaw, who bid £31,227 and £90,669 for the northern and southern sections.

[27] The final link from Bridlington to Filey opened on 20 October 1847, the section west of Hunmanby had required extensive earthwork.

[31] The Seamer–Filey section was opened on 5 October 1846, with a procession followed by a dinner at Filey, attended by George Hudson, J. H. Lowther, the Lord Mayor of York, F. Trench and others at the house of Mr. Bentley (Ravine Villa).

[32] A new Hull terminus at Paragon Street (Paragon station) opened in 1848; as part of the works chords were constructed connecting the terminus to the Bridlington branch, as well as a westward chord at the original Hull and Selby/Bridlington branch junction.

[note 6] The original Dairycoates to Cottingham section remained in use, being used for freight, and as a cut off avoiding Hull for trains to Bridlington from West Yorkshire.

[map 10][37] In the second half of the 19th century rail connected facilities at Beverley and Driffield substantially increased, with additional goods sheds, as well as independent firms operating alongside the railway with connected sidings – agriculture related industries were the norm, with the large East Riding Maltkilns, built 1873–4 at Beverley, and the Driffield and East Riding Pure Linseed Cake Company, founded 1861 in Driffield, amongst others.

[42] In around 1904 a junction was made for a short siding to the Mill Dam pumping station north of Cottingham.

The station's siting allowed trains to travel without reversing to or from carriage sidings on the Scarborough–Whitby line north of the Falsgrave tunnel which had been built at around the same time.

[48] First World War requirements for railway track for use in France led to the singling of the line sections between Flamborough and Bempton, and Speeton and Hunmanby in 1917.

[49] In 1947 a short branch section opened to Filey Holiday Camp, accessible from up and down directions via a triangle of track.

By 1969 the subsidy required had risen to over £600,000 pa – the decision was made to keep the line open, though a number of poorly utilised stations were to be closed.

Conversion of level crossings to unstaffed 'Automatic Open' type was under way in the 1980s, but was halted by the Lockington rail crash.

Subsequently, following a report into level crossing safety in 1987 the policy changed to replacement with 'Automatic Half Barrier' type.

In 1861 additional services had been introduced running from Hull to Beverley, Driffield and Bridlington, followed by the return journey.

[60] The 1949 timetable had added eight trains to the Filey Holiday Camp to Newcastle, Sheffield, London, York, Birmingham, and Leeds.

Legend states that the halt has it origins in a halt built for the wife of a local timber merchant, which allowed her to detrain only a quarter of a mile from her home;[65] In the late 1890s the North Eastern Railway management were undertaking quadrupling of the Selby–Hull line, and looking for means to reduce the congestion out of Hull – it was suggested to redouble the line allowing additional freight to run from Hull via Cottingham to the Market Weighton and beyond.

[65] From around 1900 the Chalk lane sidings expanded, branching both left and right immediately north of Hessle Road junction.

[80][81][82] As of the May 2024 timetable change, there are now 15 trains each way to/from Scarborough along the Yorkshire Coast Line on Monday to Saturday, almost all of which start/terminate at Sheffield.

Services which start/terminate at Scarborough are also now predominantly worked by refurbished three-coach Class 170 Turbostar trains.