It is 68 miles 72 chains (110.88 km) from London Liverpool Street, between Wrabness to the west and Dovercourt to the east.

Its three-letter station code, HPQ, derives from its original name, Harwich Parkeston Quay.

The second entrance is from a car-park via the footbridge, with step free access being provided by a lift which is in service until the evening ferry sailing to Hook of Holland has departed.

[2] The Manningtree to Harwich branch was opened as a single track line on 15 August 1854 and the original route passed south of the Parkeston Quay site.

During the 1860s and 1870s passenger and goods traffic grew at Harwich but so did complaints about noise, smell and cattle lairages in the centre of town.

[3] The port and station at Parkeston owe their origins to the Great Eastern Railway (GER) which opened them on a new track alignment built over reclaimed land in September 1882 and named them after its chairman, Charles Henry Parkes.

The single-track branch was doubled at the same time and diverted to the north of its original alignment which can still be followed on Ordnance Survey maps of the area.

On the evening of 31 January 1953, the North Sea flood of 1953 affected the area with 200 yards of main line embankment washed away.

[11] By the late 1970s the costs of running the dated mechanical signalling systems north of Colchester was recognised and in 1978 a scheme for track rationalisation and re-signalling was duly submitted to the Department of Transport.

This was followed by a proposal to electrify the Great Eastern Main Line north of Colchester and branch to Harwich in 1980.

[14] Harwich Parkeston Quay continued to have locomotive-hauled InterCity services running to both London and the north via Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds, Ely and Peterborough (mostly to Manchester and Glasgow Central).

In 1982 British Railways sectorised their operations and the branch fell under the London & South East (later renamed Network SouthEast in 1986).

[22] Boat trains commenced running to Harwich Parkeston Quay in 1882 and were timed 1 hour 45 minutes from London Liverpool Street.

This train included the first restaurant car on the Great Eastern (in 1891) and this was also the first service in the UK to allow third-class passengers to dine.

A new train set was built for this service in 1906 and generally operated in the following formation: ENGINE+THIRD CLASS BRAKE+CORRIDOR THIRD+OPEN THIRD+KITCHEN AND OPEN FIRST+SEMI-OPEN FIRST+SIX WHEEL BRAKE (this constituted the York portion).

Cargoes were assembled at Parkeston and brought to Harwich for a specific sailing, as there was no long-term storage capacity at the ferry terminal.

There is little regular freight at this site in 2024 and passenger stock stables overnight having arrived off Liverpool Street services.

These generally form early morning and peak hour services to London Liverpool Street.

In the 1870s the building of Parkeston Quay had started and land to the east of that site was allocated for the new engine shed which opened in March 1883.

[29] A new, larger turntable was provided on the site in 1912 and this was installed in time for the delivery of the 1500 class 4-6-0 locomotives, the first of which was allocated to Parkeston.

At the end of the Great Eastern Railway the following locomotives were allocated to Parkeston:[30] In 1930 improved coal facilities were introduced along with a water softening plant in 1935.

The branch trains operate between Harwich Town and Manningtree calling at all stations, although some are extended to or from Colchester and/or London Liverpool Street.

There are two trains per day which run direct to Ipswich, which utilise the curve avoiding the station at Manningtree.