 The engineer, Mr. Birch, proposed a line starting at Larpool Hall near Whitby, with a 1 in 40 gradient to a station at Hawsker, then stations at Bay Town (Robin Hood's Bay), near Fyling Hall, at Hayburn Wyke, then a station serving Cloughton and Burniston, then Scalby, before terminating near West Parade in Scarborough.A branch line was proposed, from the start at Crowdy Hill in Whitby connecting to the River Esk, where a wharf would be built.An act allowing construction of the new line was passed on 29 June 1871.