The 0.75 miles (1.2 km) of standard gauge running line and museum are owned and operated by the Jolly family assisted by volunteers.

[1][2][3] John Jolly, his wife June and their son James moved from Halesworth in Suffolk to Mangapps Farm near Burnham-on-Crouch in 1984.

Jolly was then approached by John Wilson, the area manager for British Rail at Liverpool Street station, to take part in celebrations to mark the centenary of the Great Eastern Railway’s New Essex Lines network.

Rover tickets from Southend Victoria railway station could be bought for £1, and Wilson wanted him to organise a bus link between Burnham-on-Crouch and the farm.

Bagnall 0-6-0ST Empress, the first steam locomotive to arrive at Mangapps in 1989, moved permanently to the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway in September 2018.