The line connected the settlements of Helmsley, Kirkbymoorside, Nawton, Nunnington and Sinnington to others parts of the North Eastern Railway (NER) network.[4] The Ryedale plan involved a line from Gilling northwards through Helmsley to Stokesley and Thornaby with a triangular junction at Harome where the eastern arm would go through Kirkbymoorside[note 1][5] and bypass Pickering on a direct route to Scarborough.[4] In the end, the NER stuck by its own plan of 1864 with two minor adjustments, there would be no north to east curve at Cawton (where the T&M and the G&P met at Parliamentary Junction) and so no through running from Hovingham and the original intention was that the line would enter Pickering from the north to allow through running to Scarborough on what was to become the Forge Valley Line.[11] At Helmsley the line curved almost 180 degrees to go east across the southern edge of the North Yorkshire Moors and calling at Nawton, Kirkbymoorside and Sinnington.There was a small section of double track (0.25 miles (0.40 km)[13] as the line converged with the other railways at Mill Lane Junction in Pickering.[16] Timetabled passenger workings on the T&M line were stopped altogether in January 1931, which left the G&P service operating alone from Pickering to York.By October 1950, the timetable had three through workings between York and Pickering, but not all services stopped at all of the stations on the East Coast Main Line.[10] Signal boxes were located at (west to east); Gilling, Helmsley, Kirbymoorside and Goslip Bridge (Pickering).[41] Spaunton Quarry was started in 1928 and a 1930 agreement with the LNER provided a siding into Sinnington station facing eastwards.Whenever traffic was to be forwarded, the farmers in the area would need to contact Helmsley to allow the pick-up goods train to call at the siding.It forwarded fruit to many destinations and was used to store sugar and was a trans-shipment point for the storage of barley at the former airfield at RAF Wombleton just south of the station.Thirteen trains ran between the 7 June and 21 July 1943 with the LNER providing a shunting locomotive at Nunnington station.[49][50] Parliament granted assent with subsequent amendments to the bill and work did start in 1902, but it soon ground to a halt and the railway was never completed.
The site of Helmsley railway station in April 2006, looking eastwards