Its Act of 21 July 1845 authorised capital of £400,000 and it shared many shareholders and directors with the Eastern Union Railway (EUR) who were in the process of building their line from Colchester to Ipswich.

The proposed line was 26.5 miles long, with intermediate stations at Bramford, Claydon, Needham, Stowmarket, Haughley Road, Elmswell and Thurston.

[3] Building the line was challenging with problems at Ipswich with tunnel construction and at Stowmarket where the local marsh swallowed up a lot of material with test probes finding the bog was 80 feet deep!

The official opening followed on 7 December 1846 when a special train ran from Shoreditch (later Bishopsgate railway station) to Bury.

The Woolpit Brick Company operated on a site 1.25 miles south of Elmswell station.

During World War II the station acted as a railhead for RAF Great Ashfield.

The station building was designed by Frederick Barnes, an Ipswich-based architect who had worked under Peter Bruff.

The main buildings were located on the down side and featured high brick chimneys, Dutch gables and a timber fronted canopy.