The Colchester, Stour Valley, Sudbury & Halstead Railway was authorised by Acts of Parliament in 1846 and 1847 to construct a line from Marks Tey to Sudbury and then extend from Sudbury to Clare, with a branch line to Bury St. Edmunds forking off at Long Melford. Before construction was completed the company had changed hands twice and became part of the Eastern Union Railway. 

The Marks Tey to Sudbury section of the line opened on 2 July 1849 and ran for 5 years before being taken over by the Eastern Counties Railway on 7 August 1862. In 1862 the Eastern Union Railway and Eastern Counties Railway were amalgamated into the new Great Eastern Railway. After several years of protracted legal disputes, the GER opened the section from Haverhill to Shelford on 1 June 1865 and then the section from Sudbury to Haverhil on 9 August. The Long Melford-Bury St Edmunds branch line from Melford to Bury St. Edmunds was also completed in the same year. The line was now connected to the Colne Valley and Halstead Railway at Haverhill serving Castle Hedingham, Halstead and Chappel and Wakes Colne.

Chappel and Walkes Colne Station, on the Marks Tey to Sudbury section, is the only surviving operational stretch of the Great Eastern line from Cambridge to Colchester. Built around 1892 it is high up on an embankment at the northern end of the Chappel viaduct. The museum occupies the Up station building and the goods yard including a very fine Goods Shed. it has a collection of historic locomotives and rolling stock and two working signal boxes.

It was created in 1968 as a preservation centre with a view to later taking over a length of railway which at the time was still being operated by BR, in this case the 10 miles from Marks Tey to Sudbury. However, BR and its successors proved unusually reluctant to close this line and it has remained open as a public railway. The creation of a museum in the old station yard was helped by the Manpower Services Commission.

On completion of a new shed for restoration work, what had been known as the Stour Valley Railway Centre was re-launched under its current name. In order to provide better reception facilities, the station building was adapted and the Museum made itself an Employment Training Provider, and thus became eligible for grant aid.

As a steam centre and museum, the preservation venture has managed to survive with only a short length of track, as it has a good collection of industrial locomotives, two operational signal boxes, a superb goods depot, and a well preserved station with a collection of interesting artefacts. The site was purchased from British Rail in 1991.