Chappel and Wakes Colne Station Buildings

The Station Buildings is where your visit to the East Anglian Railway Museum begins, the Reception and Railway Shop is located on the ground floor of this building, an area which previously the old storage arches. The Station Buildings were built by the Great Eastern Railway in 1880, and were a replacement for the original station due to growth on the railways at the time. The original station can still be seen, it is the white coloured, single story building attached to the Station Masters House (now privately owned).

Museum Members sand blasted the storage arches in the 80s and opened it as the Heritage Centre on 16th August 1989 then in the late 90s as part of a scheme to return the Booking Office and Waiting Room to their original use, the area became the new Visitor Reception Centre.

After you have purchased your Admission ticket and had a chance to browse the shop, the next part of your visit takes you outside and up the double staircase to the former Booking Hall and Waiting Room, these are preserved as if it was still the 1950s.

The Booking Hall leads out on the Platform for the Marks Tey to Sudbury service - this platform is owned by Network Rail and used hourly, seven days per week by the National Express East Anglia Service trains.

The trains which use this platform are not part of the Museum, however if you would like to have a ride on the branch line, you are welcome to - the fare is approx £5 for a full round trip and tickets can be purchased from the guard on the train.

The Station Masters office is located in the station buildings and is expected to re open soon for public viewing, however when you are in the booking hall, have a look into the ticket office and next to the fire place - this small hatch would have been used to transfer money to the station master - and also used so he could keep an eye on his staff! The last Station Master was a Mr Falls who retired in the early 1960s, his wife lived in the Station Masters house until the mid 1980s.

Adjacent to the Station Buildings on the platform are the Gents toilets, the former lamp room and finally the ladies toilets.