East Anglian Railway Museum


The East Anglian Railway Museum is located at Chappel and Wakes Colne railway station in Essex, England, which is situated on the former Great Eastern Railway branch line from Marks Tey to Sudbury. Services on the Sudbury Branch Line are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia.
The museum has a wide collection of locomotives and rolling stock, some of which are fully restored, three are converted into Thomas, Percy and Toby replicas while others are undergoing repair and restoration. The Restoration Shed was built in 1983–4, before which most work had to take place in the Goods Shed or in the open. On event days, steam or diesel train rides are operated over a short demonstration track.
The museum also plays host to two popular annual events: the Winter Beer Festival held in late February / early March, and the Summer Beer Festival held each September. During the festivals, additional late-evening trains on the Sudbury Branch Line allow festival-goers to return home by train subject to provision by the train operation companies. There are no moving exhibits during the festivals, although train carriages are usually open to sit in and drink, with one wagon doubling up as The Shunters Arms at the summer festival.
In addition many other event days happen during the year, such as Classic Car rallies, Forties and Fifties day events, SteamPunk fairs, Model Railway events, Plays and musical performances and the ever popular "Days out with Thomas" events featuring Thomas The Tank Engine.

Museum history

Formation of the society

The museum was originally formed as the Stour Valley Railway Preservation Society on 24 September 1968. The SVRPS was established at Chappel & Wakes Colne Station in December 1969 after a lease was obtained from British Rail to use the vacant goods yard and railway buildings, including the station building. The first public steam day took place three months later.
The goods shed and station buildings were quickly restored; with a workshop being set up in the goods shed to enable maintenance and restoration work to be undertaken on the rolling stock.

The birth of the museum

The Stour Valley Railway Preservation Society was renamed to The East Anglian Railway Museum in 1986 to confirm its focus on representing railway history of the Eastern Counties rather than just operating trains. The museum gained charitable status in 1991 and became a Registered Museum in 1995.
Since 2005, the museum has had a greater emphasis on interpretation and display facilities, a large variety of events take place each year to raise funds to support the museum's activities.

Steam locomotives

The museum has a collection of industrial steam locomotives, in various states of repair.

Operational

The museum has a collection of industrial diesel locomotives.

Operational

Two Class 101 DMU cars are in operation at the museum. The units are owned by Diesel Unit Preservation Associates Ltd. DUPA own one other Class 101 unit and two Class 108 units. Car number E56358 is painted in BR Blue with full yellow ends while E51213 is painted in BR Blue Grey with full yellow ends. Both cars have had their original pattern tungsten lighting reinstated. No. E56358 and No. E51213 were regular performers on the Marks Tey to Sudbury Line until 1993 when all 1st generation units were withdrawn in East Anglia and were transferred to Manchester, both withdrawn from service in 2001, then stored at MOD Shoeburyness before being purchased in 2003. They represented the Class 101 DMU class at Railcar50. The unit is mainly used on Day Out With Thomas Events where it runs as Daisy The Diesel Multiple Unit.
unit 017 was transferred to the museum in mid-2011 for a four-year loan period from the National Railway Museum. The unit is normally positioned so the public are able to access the vehicle.

Blur

On 13 June 2009, alternative rock band Blur performed a concert at the museum, where they had performed their first concert in 1988. As in 1988, the band played to around 150 people in a goods shed. This concert was their first since 2001 and the first show of their 2009 mini-tour, which was followed by the band head-lining at the Glastonbury Festival and performing two concerts in Hyde Park.
In November 2009, a plaque was erected on the East Anglian Railway Museum by PRS for Music. The Heritage Award was a celebration of Blur and the location of their first live performance.