It is located on the last operating commercial narrow gauge railway in Finland, the 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) gauge Jokioinen Railway.

The museum was established on February 2, 1978, four years after the discontinued operation of the commercially-operated railway, when the new Jokioinen Museum Railway Limited joint stock company (Finnish: Jokioisten Museorautatie Oy) bought the rail line from Jokioinen to Minkiö railway station, with its land and associated buildings.

Museum steam trains began running that same year.

In 1994 the line was extended with an 8-kilometre (5 mi) stretch between Minkiö and Humppila.

The Minkiö station has a narrow gauge museum with a collection of carriages and locomotives.