The line and its stations were ready for opening on 1 May 1916 but its five-passenger stations, at Snaith & Pollington, Sykehouse, Thorpe-in-Balne, Doncaster (York Road) and Warmsworth never saw a passenger train. The route duplicated that of other railways in the area and the stations were some way from the villages they purported to serve.
The station was kept fully intact until the late 1960s when demolition finally came.
The only passenger trains to work over the line were enthusiasts specials, the last of these was the "Doncaster Decoy", which ran on 5 October 1968.