During the 1800s, the railway station extended the city's ideals to the countryside. It could house a post and telegraph office, a newsstand, and eventually a telephone. And, of course, the steam locomotives – the most impressive technological achievement of the time.

In existing cities, the railway station was often located on the outskirts. Over time, it became a new centre in the growing city, alongside the old one.

But entirely new communities also emerged along the railways. There, the station, as one of the first buildings, naturally had a central location. Flen, Katrineholm, Hallsberg, Nässjö, Alvesta, Hässleholm, and Eslöv are some examples of "railway towns."

With the railway came urban architecture to the countryside. New station buildings were erected in the prevailing style of the time. Until the 1930s, the architecture mainly consisted of more or less playful and foreign-inspired reflections on history.

Over the years, thousands of station buildings were built by both the state and private entities. Adolf Wilhelm Edelsvärd was the chief architect of SJ (Swedish Railways) from 1855 for forty years onward. He wanted to combat ugliness and "awaken the mind and spirit to a more beautiful architecture."

The model for the museum's station building was also built under Edelsvärd's leadership. It was located between Södertälje and Katrineholm and was built at the same time as the Western Main Line, in 1862.

The station was named after the nearby Sparreholm estate, and soon a station community developed around it. In connection with the double-track expansion in the 1950s, Sparreholm's station building was replaced by a new one.