Kyoto Railway Museum

What to know

The Kyoto Railway Museum opened in 2016 on the former site of the Umekoji Train and Locomotive Museum, about a twenty-minute walk west of Kyoto Station. It is one of Japan's three great railway museums, alongside JR East's Railway Museum in Saitama and JR Central's SCMAGLEV and Railway Park in Nagoya.

Spanning three floors on a 30,000-square-meter site, the museum displays over 50 retired trains, from steam locomotives to modern electric trains and shinkansen. Visitors can also walk underneath and examine the inner workings of a retired freight locomotive.

The museum showcases railway uniforms, tools, and a wealth of other artifacts from past eras, and features one of Japan's largest dioramas, where miniature trains are operated by a single skilled operator. There are also interactive exhibits where visitors can try being a train conductor or drive a train simulator. The restaurant on the second floor, directly below an observation deck, offers nice views of passing trains on the JR Kyoto Line and Tokaido Shinkansen.

Next to the main building is a roundhouse with a turntable dating from 1914. It houses Japan's largest collection of well-preserved steam locomotives. Visitors can also watch through windows as trains are serviced in a maintenance hall built exclusively for steam locomotives. For an additional 300 yen, guests can take a one-kilometer, ten-minute ride on a steam locomotive-powered train.

At the museum's exit stands the Nijo Station Building, a picturesque, old-fashioned structure relocated from nearby Nijo Station in 1997. Originally built in 1904, it is the oldest station building of its kind in Japan, evoking a bygone era before concrete became widespread in station construction.

The Kyoto Railway Museum is a few steps from Umekoji-Kyotonishi Station (3 minutes, 150 yen one way from Kyoto Station) or a 20-minute walk from Kyoto Station.