About

Historic diesel trains operate a normal hourly timetable every weekend and every day in school holidays.

Our museum houses an extensive collection of railway relics of all kinds, working steam and diesel locomotives, carriages, wagons, historic buildings and one of the largest collections of railway signalling equipment open to the public.

Where possible items from the collection are displayed in the appropriate setting, for example in the restored station masters office at Mangapps station and the Lamp Hut. The vast majority of the collection may be seen under cover inside the Museum building. 

The collection is comprehensive including items of all kinds having a connection with the railways of the past, but is particularly strong in certain areas - the railway signalling collection is the largest of its kind on public display in Britain and includes a working lever frame connected to a number of preserved historic signals (which visitors can try themselves!)  Adjacent to this is a carriage housing a wide variety of block telegraph, single line and associated equipment, much of which dates from the 19th century.

The museum has a wide variety of items from East Anglia and particularly from the Great Eastern Railway, its predecessors and successors, and interesting displays on rail freight and railway publicity material such as a display of posters from the 1920s to the 1950s advertising the delights of Southend on Sea!

The range of the museum can be judged from the earliest items, a section of plate rail of 1798 and a boundary post of the Stockton and Darlington Railway of 1825, to the latest (so far1) the plastic ‘Network South-East’ name board from Wickford signal box. A recent addition is the collection of railway memorabilia from France and Canada.

We offer train rides through pleasant countryside on our ¾ mile of track. Passengers can alight at Old Heath Station and take a leisurely stroll along the lineside to the far end of the line, or access the public footpaths to Creeksea and Southminster from Old Heath Station.

Passengers can travel in a variety of interesting vintage carriages or vans depending on weather and availability.  Mangapps has a luxurious 1st Class Corridor Coach, a Compartment Carriage, Diesel Rail Car and numerous Brake Vans.  The Brake Vans are very popular during the summer months when open air travel is much preferred. 

Train rides are always available when the Museum is open, with special events including Santa Special trains during December.