Patronage has never been high and it may be the fact that its location as a junction of two branches has been partly responsible for keeping it open.

During the 1880s the station served a factory belonging to the Westerfield Steam Brewery (which also dealt in coal and corn).

522, which was then just a year old, stopped at a signal on the Ipswich side of the level crossing awaiting a route to the Felixstowe branch.

Shortly afterwards the boiler exploded, killing driver John Barnard and his fireman William MacDonald, both based at Ipswich engine shed.

[5][6] On 3 May 1902 Westerfield almost became a four-way junction when a sod-cutting ceremony for the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway was held adjacent to the north side of the goods yard.

[10] In the 1960s, as part of the Beeching cuts, the East Suffolk Line was marked for closure but a vigorous local campaign saw it saved.

Trains for Felixstowe now changed tracks west of the level crossing and worked through the Ipswich-bound platform.

In the early 1990s the Felixstowe Dock & Railway Company buildings which had stood derelict for many years were converted to a private residence.

On privatisation in 1994 the ownership of the infrastructure passed to Railtrack (which was replaced by Network Rail in 2002), whilst management of the station, as well as the services serving it, were initially operated by a business unit and the first franchise was awarded to Anglia Railways.

In 1877 the station opened as a terminus of the Felixstowe Branch Line with four trains arriving and departing each day.

[11] In the September 1964 timetable only four Felixstowe and a single East Suffolk train served the station on a weekday.

The Felixstowe Railway Company had offices on the southernmost platform which are still extant today as a private residence after they had stood derelict for many years.

To the west of the station and level crossing there was a short branch (1.5 miles long) which ran to a brick and tile works in what is now known as the Dales area of Ipswich.

In World War I the line was requisitioned by the government to serve a munitions depot in the Upper Dales.

In 1921 the line was worked by a Garrett steam road tractor as the track was in poor condition and it was removed in about 1927.

[12][13] The original signal box was situated at the east end of the Lowestoft platform but this was replaced by a standard Great Eastern structure located at the junction for the Felixstowe branch.

East Suffolk Line trains between Ipswich and Lowestoft generally only call during the weekday peak hours.