Israel Railway Museum ( he, מוזיאון רכבת ישראל) is the national

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 e ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, located in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

. The railway museum is owned by

Israel Railways Israel Railways Ltd. , dba Israel Railways ( he, רַכֶּבֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Rakevet Yisra'el''), is the state-owned principal railway company responsible for all inter-city, commuter, and freight rail transport in Israel. Isr ...

and is located at the

Haifa East Railway Station Haifa East railway station was built in 1904 by the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman authorities as the western terminus of their Jezreel Valley railway. In the 1920s, under the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate, Palestine Railways extended the Eastern ...

which nowadays no longer serves passengers.

Features

The museum features the railway history of Israel, its predecessor states and neighbouring countries back to 1892. The location itself is an attraction, as it was the shed for the Jezreel Valley branch of the former Hejaz Railway. The museum features a collection of

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

, signs, tickets and other items. The museum has both an indoor and an outdoor section, with the indoor section having been renovated in 2000.

Some notable exhibits

Palestine Railways {{Infobox rail , railroad_name = Palestine Railway , logo_filename = , logo_size = , system_map = , map_caption = , map_size = , marks = , image = AwmB00283.Samakh.jpg , image_size ...

saloon coach No. 98, built by the

Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRC&W) was a railway locomotive and carriage builder, founded in Birmingham, England and, for most of its existence, located at nearby Smethwick, with the factory divided by the boundary betwe ...

in England in 1922. It provided

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples inc ...

transport for, among others, Emperor

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...

of Ethiopia, Queen Elizabeth of Belgium and Sir

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. *Coach No. 4720 was built in Belgium in about 1893 for

Egyptian State Railways Egyptian National Railways (ENR; ar, السكك الحديدية المصرية, Al-Sikak al-Ḥadīdiyyah al-Miṣriyyah) is the national railway of Egypt and managed by the parastatal Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA; ar, الهيئة الق� ...

. In

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

it was converted into an ambulance coach for the

Egyptian Expeditionary Force The Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) was a British Empire military formation, formed on 10 March 1916 under the command of General Archibald Murray from the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and the Force in Egypt (1914–15), at the beginning of ...

's Sinai Military Railway. In the 1956 Israeli invasion of Sinai it was captured and transferred to Israel Railways who used it on breakdown trains. *Hejaz Railway

tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank locom ...

. It is a 0-6-0T

shunter A switcher, shunter, yard pilot, switch engine, yard goat, or shifter is a small Rail transport, railroad locomotive used for manoeuvring railroad cars inside a rail yard in a process known as Shunt (railway operations), ''switching'' (US) or ...

built by

Krauss Krauss is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alison Krauss (born 1971), American bluegrass musician * Alexander Krauß (born 1975), German politician * Alexis Krauss (born 1985), musician of the noise pop duo Sleigh Bells ...

in Germany in 1902. * Tender of

Palestine Railways P class The Palestine Railways P class was a type of standard gauge mixed traffic steam locomotive on Palestine Railways and its successor Israel Railways. The PMR introduced the class in 1935 and Israel Railways withdrew the last ones in 1960. Backgro ...

locomotive No. 62, built in 1935 by the

North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park Wor ...

in Scotland. The locomotive was one of a class of six 4-6-0 tender locomotives that hauled main line trains between Haifa and Kantara East on the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

''via''

Lydda Lod ( he, לוד, or fully vocalized ; ar, اللد, al-Lidd or ), also known as Lydda ( grc, Λύδδα), is a city southeast of Tel Aviv and northwest of Jerusalem in the Central District of Israel. It is situated between the lower Shephe ...

and

El Arish ʻArish or el-ʻArīsh ( ar, العريش ' , ''Hrinokorura'') is the capital and largest city (with 164,830 inhabitants ) of the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, as well as the largest city on the entire Sinai Peninsula, lying on the Mediter ...

. In 1960 all remaining

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

steam locomotives in Israel were scrapped after they had been replaced by diesel trains.Cotterell, 1984, page 54 *

Steam crane A steam crane is a crane powered by a steam engine. It may be fixed or mobile and, if mobile, it may run on rail tracks, caterpillar tracks, road wheels, or be mounted on a barge. It usually has a vertical boiler placed at the back so that th ...

no. C-25-1, built in 1918 by Cowans, Sheldon and Company in England for the

Railway Operating Division The Railway Operating Division (ROD) was a division of the Royal Engineers formed in 1915 to operate railways in the many theatres of the First World War. It was largely composed of railway employees and operated both standard gauge and narrow g ...

of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. *Steam crane no. C-30-1, built in 1950 for Egyptian State Railways and captured during the 1956 Israeli invasion of Sinai *

EMD G12 The EMD G12 is a class of export locomotive built by GM-EMD, and its Canadian affiliate General Motors Diesel. In addition, Australian licensee Clyde Engineering built ten locomotives for New Zealand in 1957, five for Hong Kong, 23 for Queenslan ...

1,425

bhp BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

Bo-Bo B-B and Bo-Bo are the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and British classifications of wheel arrangement for railway locomotives with four axles in two individual bogies. They are equivalent to the B′B′ and Bo′Bo′ classifications in ...

diesel-electric locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conv ...

no. 107, built in 1954. *

EMD G16 The EMD G16 is a diesel locomotive built by General Motors in the US and under licence by Clyde Engineering in Australia and MACOSA in Spain. It has been used in Australia, Brazil, Egyptian Railways, Hong Kong, Israel Railways, Mexico, Spain, Y ...

1,950 bhp Co-Co diesel electric no. 163, built for Egyptian Railways in 1961 (ER fleet no. 3361), captured during the 1967 Israeli invasion of Sinai and transferred by Israel Railways to work on freight lines in the

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southe ...

desert.

Opening hours

The museum is open Sunday to Thursday from 8:30 to 15:30. Payment is by cash or cheque at the door. The museum is at Haifa East railway station but passenger trains do not stop there. However, by prior arrangement with the museum manager, groups of 25 people or more who are visiting the Railway Museum may arrange for an intercity train to stop at Haifa East.

References

Sources

External links