Hidden among the quiet rural lanes of eastern Essex is an evocative museum that brings to life a bygone era of British railways. It’s a hotchpotch of carefully restored Victorian buildings, renovated steam locomotives and carriages and associated ephemera collected together in a picture-perfect setting.
This gem is the East Anglian Railway Museum, part of the one-platform Chappel and Wakes Colne station, on the Sudbury branch line, on the outskirts of Colchester. Run almost entirely by volunteers, it is a working museum dedicated to preserving the history of railways in the East of England.
PE visited on a warm, sunny day, and the setting couldn’t have been more welcoming. A handsome station building, built in the late 1880s by the Great Eastern Railway, leads to a booking and ticket office complete with ledgers, trunks, cases and weighing machines, transporting you back in time.
Take a look at the wall-mounted machine with a big handle by the window – it is a printing device to dispense metal labels for attaching to parcels for transport by rail.
Onwards to the well-kept platform, where trains still stop en route to Sudbury to the north, and to Marks Tey to the south. The footbridge crossing the tracks to the static displays was built by museum volunteers in the 1980s, under the supervision of an engineering team from British Rail. It offers views of the station master’s house and a magnificent brick goods shed, framed by rolling countryside.
Next up is a series of locomotives, carriages and wagons, most of which can be boarded by visitors. A “grounded” Great North Eastern Homersfield third-class coach, built in 1890, has lost its wheels, and shows how carriages of this type were converted to provide homes for evacuees during the Second World War. Then there’s a BR Mk 1 corridor coach, whose well-upholstered seats are far comfier than any found today.
A North London Railway luggage/guard’s brake van, built in 1872, features design quirks of the time – a dog box with two small ventilated doors, and a flap that housed a gas container which fuelled the carriage lighting.
Each of the static displays is lovingly maintained by members of the museum. And, in the restoration shed, volunteers are helping to bring other locomotives, rolling stock and track and signalling equipment back to life. At present, Jubilee, an industrial locomotive built in 1935, is being restored to working order.
Once you’ve had your fill of railway restoration, take a stroll to see a grade-II listed signal box which was originally located at Mistley. The building is a mass of mechanical complexity, including a crossing gate lock and detonator-placer levers. On operating days, the box is still used to control train movements.
The final port of call should be the church-like goods shed. Look down at the groove in the floor by the platform edge. This was caused by wagon doors being dropped over many years during loading and unloading of potatoes, milk churns, farm machinery and other goods.
As well as the permanent displays, there are steam railway experience days, living history lectures and family events throughout the year. The museum is the perfect example of industrial heritage in action.
5 things to see
The perfect platform
Wait for a train surrounded by potted plants and pretty flowers.
View from the bridge
Enjoy the glorious vista of rolling countryside.
Trainspotters’ delight
Climb aboard a host of locomotives and carriages.
History coming to life
The restoration shed features railway engineering in action.
The Swan
The local pub, whose garden has views of the magnificent Chappel Viaduct.