Mangapps Railway Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Mangapps Railway Museum

The Old Heath Station building. It was once located at Laxfield on the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway.
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Established	1986
Location	Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, England
Type	Railway museum

The Mangapps Railway Museum is a special railway center in Essex, England, where you can see and ride on historic trains. It's like a time machine for railways! The museum has a 0.75 miles (1.2 km) long railway track and is run by the Jolly family with the help of many volunteers.

How the Museum Began

In 1984, the Jolly family moved to Mangapps Farm. The father, John Jolly, was a huge fan of railways and already had a big collection of railway signs, lamps, and other items, known as railwayana.

Soon after moving, he got an old waiting shelter from Brampton station. He set it up in his garden, built a platform, and filled the shelter with his collection. People started visiting and suggested he should open his collection to the public.

John decided to turn his hobby into a real museum. He bought a small diesel shunter engine in 1987. Over the next two years, he added more old railway buildings and tracks, creating the start of a working railway.

In 1989, a steam locomotive named Empress arrived at the farm. That same year, the museum took part in a big event celebrating 100 years of local railway lines. Thousands of people visited over one weekend! This showed the Jolly family that visitors really wanted to ride on the trains. After getting permission from the Railway Inspectorate, they made the track longer. Since Easter 1990, visitors have been able to enjoy train rides at the museum.

The Museum's Collection

The museum has a fantastic collection of trains and railway items, many of which were used in the East Anglia area of England. You can see everything from powerful locomotives to old passenger coaches and goods wagons.

Some interesting items include:

• A pantry car (a coach with a small kitchen) built in 1928.
• A passenger coach from 1956.
• A wooden boxvan for carrying goods, built way back in 1881.
• A special van from France, built in 1932, that could travel on ferries.
• A caboose (a crew car from the end of a freight train) from the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The museum also has a huge number of old signs, badges, and other railway treasures.

Meet the Locomotives

The trains at Mangapps are the stars of the show. Sometimes, they are loaned to other heritage railways, so you might see them at different places around the country.

Steam Locomotives

Steam locomotives are powered by burning coal to heat water into steam.

Name and Number	Built	Builder	Type	Status	Photograph
Minnie (No. 358)	1878	Fox, Walker and Company	0-6-0ST (Saddle Tank)	On display for visitors to see.
Toto (No. 1619)	1919	Andrew Barclay Sons & Co.	0-4-0ST (Saddle Tank)	Currently being restored to working order.
Brookfield (No. 2613)	1940	W. G. Bagnall	0-6-0PT (Pannier Tank)	Working and pulling trains after a major repair completed in 2024.
No. 80078	1954	British Rail	Standard Class 4	Working. It is currently visiting the Mid Norfolk Railway.

Diesel Locomotives

Diesel locomotives use a diesel engine, similar to a large truck, to power the train.

Number and Name	Class	Built	Status	Notes	Photograph
03 018	Class 03	1958	Undergoing major repairs.	A small shunter engine used for moving wagons.
03 081 Lucie	Class 03	1960	Being repainted into its original green color.	This engine came back to the UK from Belgium in 2004.
03 089	Class 03	1960	Working.	You can often see this engine busy at the museum.
D2325	Class 04	1961	Working.	This was the very first locomotive to arrive at the museum in 1987!
31 105 "Radio Caroline"	Class 31	1959	Working.	A larger engine for pulling heavier trains. It was named by the musician Rick Wakeman.
31 233	Class 31	1960	Working.	This engine used to work for Network Rail, helping to maintain the main railway lines.

Multiple Units

Multiple units are trains where the engine is built into one or more of the passenger carriages.

Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs)

Class	Built	Notes	Photograph
Class 117	1960	This is a driving car from a three-car train set that was common across Britain.

Electric Multiple Units (EMUs)

These trains are powered by electricity from an overhead line or a third rail. At Mangapps, they are on display as the line is not electric.

Class	Built	Notes	Photograph
Class 302	1958	This is a driving trailer car from a train that used to run on lines into London.
1959 Stock	1959	This train car once ran on the London Underground. It was used in the 2017 film Darkest Hour.

Other Interesting Vehicles

The museum also has smaller, special vehicles used for checking the railway tracks. These are called inspection vehicles or trolleys. One of them is a Canadian Pacific Railway car, and two others are Wickham trolleys that were used on British Rail.

You can also see a service vehicle from the Southend Pier Railway. It was built in 1949 as a passenger car for the pier's narrow railway before being changed to carry tools and equipment.

Image Gallery

• 

  A Class 03 diesel shunter, No. 03158, ready for work.

• 

  Another Class 03 shunter, No. 03399.

• 

  This diesel locomotive has been restored to look like one from the old Wisbech and Upwell Tramway.

• 

  A Class 04 diesel, No. 11103, being restored to look like a tramway engine.

• 

  A driving trailer car from a Class 302 electric train.

• 

  A trailer car from a 1959 London Underground train.

• 

  A driving car from a 1938 London Underground train, now on display.

• 

  An inspection car from the Canadian Pacific Railway.

• 

  A small Wickham trolley used for track inspections.

• 

  Another type of Wickham trolley from 1955.