The present station is the second built to serve the community of Woodhouse, then separate from and not under the governance of Sheffield. The railway line between Sheffield and Gainsborough was proposed by the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway ; upon authorisation of this line in August 1846, the S&LJR amalgamated with other railways to form the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. The first section of the S&LJR line, between Sheffield and Beighton opened on 12 February 1849; the second section, which left the first near Woodhouse and ran to Gainsborough, opened on 17 July 1849. A station at the junction was opened by the MS&LR in October 1850, named Woodhouse Junction. The original station was at the bottom of Junction Lane, adjacent to the present Woodhouse Junction, formerly East Junction, signal box and was built to serve the communities of Beighton, then within Derbyshire, and Woodhouse. This station was closed on 11 October 1875 and replaced on the same day by a new station to the west, named Woodhouse. The new station was one of the earliest examples of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway's Double Pavilion designs at its present location.
Platforms
The current station has two platforms; what looks like a third disused and overgrown platform on the Down Side is a former Goods loading bay, whilst on the Up side, again what looks like a disused platform is actually the truncated former Up Goods line that ran behind the Up Main platform. A number of goods sidings exist immediately to the east, which see sporadic use by engineers trains.
Colliery lines
Woodhouse was the hub of two colliery branches: to the west a branch to Orgreave Colliery, which was extended to reach Treeton Colliery under the MS&LR Act 1893 and opened on 10 October 1898, and, to the east, from Woodhouse East Junction, the Birley Branch, which served the Birley Collieries, belonging to the Sheffield Coal Company.
Facilities
The station is unmanned and has no ticket provision - these must be bought in advance of travel or on the train. The buildings on both sides remain intact and each have waiting areas within. Train running information is provided by a customer help point on platform 1, display screens and timetable posters. Step-free access is only available to platform 1, as the footbridge from there to platform 2 has steps.
Services
operates an hourly westbound service to Sheffield and an hourly eastbound service to. At peak times, a small number of extra trains run to and. On Saturdays, three of the Gainsborough trains continue through to via. A more limited service runs from the station on Sundays, with an hourly service westbound to Sheffield, with some trains continuing to, whilst seven trains run eastbound to and.