The (formerly the until 2016) is a

railway museum A railway museum is a museum that explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including: locomotives ( steam, diesel, and electric), railway cars, trams, and railway signalling equipment. They may also operate historic ...

Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto is one of the eleven wards in the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. First established in 1879, it has been merged and split, and took on its present boundaries in 1955, with the establishment of a separate Minami-ku. Kyoto Tower an ...

, Japan. The original Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum opened in 1972, but was expanded and modernized in 2016, becoming the Kyoto Railway Museum. The museum is owned by

West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

(JR West) and is operated by Transportation Culture Promotion Foundation.

Exhibition zones

The museum is divided into the following exhibition areas, including the 20-track roundhouse built in 1914. * Promenade * Main Hall * Twilight Plaza * Roundhouse * Former Nijō Station File:Kyoto railway museum promenade rolling stock.JPG, The Promenade area in May 2016

Main Hall

This is a three-storey building completed in April 2016. File:KYOTO RAILWAY MUSEUM Main building Main Space 20160508.jpg, Exhibits in the main hall in May 2016 File:Kyoto railway museum main building 1F 20160508.jpg, The Main Hall viewed from the second floor in May 2016

Roundhouse

The 1914 roundhouse was built surrounding a

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

. It is an Important Cultural Property designated by the government of Japan as the oldest reinforced-concrete car shed extant in Japan. File:Kyoto railway museum Steam Locomotive depot.JPG, The roundhouse in May 2016

Former Nijo Station

This two-storey structure was formerly part of Nijō Station in Kyoto until March 1996, and was subsequently moved to the Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum where if formed the entrance building, housing the museum shop. File:Umekoji SL museum 001 JPN.jpg, The former Nijo Station building in February 2006

Exhibits

a total of 53 rolling stock items are on display at the museum.

Steam locomotives

8620 steam locomotive 8630 on the Umekoji Locomotive Shop turntable 2016-09-19

Diesel locomotives

DE10 1156 Sagano Scenic Railway livery 2015-06-23

Electric locomotives

Shinkansen

100 series 122-5003 Kyoto Railway Museum 20161017

EMUs

DMUs

Coaches

Freight wagons

History

As early as 1967 plans were being made to make the round-house at Umekoji depot, Kyoto into a live museum where good-order examples of Japanese steam locomotives could be displayed and also steamed and run. The museum was opened by

Japanese National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pre ...

(JNR) on October 10, 1972 commemorating the centennial of the railway in Japan. When JNR was divided into regional companies in 1987, the museum was inherited by

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and i ...

Expansion plans

On 19 December 2012, JR West officially announced its plans to modernize and expand the Umekoji museum. It was announced on 18 December 2013 that the enlarged museum would be renamed the Kyoto Railway Museum. The construction cost was 7.0 billion yen. Once the expansion was complete, the new museum exhibit space covered 31,000 square meters, becoming the largest railway museum in Japan both in terms of floor space and the number of trains exhibited, and surpassing JR East's

Railway Museum A railway museum is a museum that explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including: locomotives ( steam, diesel, and electric), railway cars, trams, and railway signalling equipment. They may also operate historic ...

in Saitama and JR Central's

SCMaglev and Railway Park The is a railway museum owned by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) in Nagoya, Japan. The museum opened on 14 March 2011. The museum features 39 full-size railway vehicles and one bus exhibit, train cab simulators, and railway model ...

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

. The expansion became necessary due to the aging facilities of the Modern Transportation Museum in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

. The Modern Transportation Museum closed on 6 April 2014, and the exhibits housed there were subsequently moved to the new railway museum in Kyoto.

Access

The museum is approximately 3 minutes on foot from

Umekōji-Kyōtonishi Station is a railway station located in Kankijichō, Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto. The station was opened on 16 March 2019, and operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West), with station number JR-E02. The station is served by the Sagano Line (Sanin Main ...

References

External links

* {{JR Museums established in 1972 Museums in Kyoto Railway museums in Japan West Japan Railway Company 1972 establishments in Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan