The original Whittington station was opened by the Midland Railway in 1861 to serve Old Whittington. The station was on the North Midland Railway's "Old Road" between Chesterfield and Rotherham Masborough. The line opened in 1840 and became very busy with coal and steel traffic with a number of new branches. In 1870 the Midland opened the "New Road" through Sheffield from Tapton Junction just north of Chesterfield, diverting passenger expresses away from the Old Road. The line through Whittington remained busy with local passengers, particularly with the rapidly expanding industry. The original station was replaced with a station further north in 1873. This 1873 station was the final Whittington station in the area. The buildings were constructed of timber, as was the signal box, with loops to each line. For a period around 1938 there was a wagon works nearby, with a small siding. The last regular passenger trains called on 4 February 1952, though it was used for excursions and special trains until 1967.
Passenger services
In 1922 passenger services calling at Whittington were at their most intensive, with trains serving four destinations via five overlapping routes:
On Sundays only
* stopping trains plied directly between and Chesterfield via the Old Road.
On Mondays to Saturdays three stopping services plied between Sheffield and Chesterfield
* most ran direct down the "New Road" through and went nowhere near Whittington.
the other two services went the "long way round" via the "Old Road". They set off north eastwards from Sheffield towards Rotherham then swung east to go south along the Old Road
* one of these continued north past, a short distance before Masboro' then swung hard right, next stop Treeton, then all stations, including Whittington, to Chesterfield,
* the other continued past then swung right onto the Sheffield District Railway passing through or calling at West Tinsley and Catcliffe before Treeton, after which they called at all stations to Chesterfield.
Also on Mondays to Saturdays two stopping services plied between Mansfield and Chesterfield via Barrow Hill
*others ran via the equally circuitous Doe Lea Branch through and. Some of these terminated at Barrow Hill, but others continued to Chesterfield, calling at Whittington.
Modern traffic
The line is now part of the current Midland Main Line. It is used predominantly for freight, with a handful of passenger trains going the "long way round" from to via the Old Road and largely to retain staff route knowledge in case of diversions.
