History Quote from Wikipedia
mid Victorian Colne Valley and Halstead Railway.
The railway occupies part of the former Colne Valley and Halstead Railway (CVHR), which opened in stages between 16 April 1860 and 10 May 1863. This part of the railway was a through line from Birdbrook to Wakes Colne.

The line continued to remain open until 30 December 1961, when passenger traffic ended. In 1965, freight traffic ended and the line was demolished a year later.

Preservation
The land was purchased in 1973 and the preservation society was formed in 1974. The first steam locomotive to arrive on site was No.WD190 shortly followed by No.72. Members of the preservation society began to operate the locomotives on a short section of line which attracted public attention. Since then the preservation society has evolved into a major tourist attraction and has one of the largest collection of rolling stock in the area.

Although originally a main line railway, the track was taken up in the late 60s, during the Beeching axe era, so when the railway was purchased there was no remaining infrastructure. The original Hedingham station was one mile away and was taken down carefully brick by brick the bricks were numbered so that it could be easily and correctly reassembled on the preservation site.


The Hedingham signal box came from Cressing where it was of an all timber construction. The top half was saved for preservation and a brick base constructed for it. The bridge crossing the River Colne came from Earls Colne in 1982.