Railway Museums Worldwide
Within my chosen geographical area which excludes North America, most of Europe and Japan, the occurrence of genuine railway museums as opposed to the odd preserved steam locomotive or tourist railway is quite rare. Below is a list of known links which describe those I either know about through personal experience or through submissions to my website or which have been located by web searches. Some are no more than (steam) locomotive parks, others have barely a steam locomotive to be seen. It will be a useful quick check list for readers making short visits. I have also included a note of known steam tourist operations where appropriate for Africa, Asia and parts of South America, the latter are covered in more detail in the relevant continent page. By and large the links are to pages which are in English, although these days a web-based automatic translation will normally produce something good enough to get started during a visit.... Please email me with additions and corrections to the address at the end, include a sensible and appropriate subject line to help avoid vanishing into the spam filter.
There are certain umbrella organisations whose sites may be helpful, particularly IATM (International Association of Transport and communications Museums) - see http://www.iatm.org/finished/start_klein.php - railways are necessarily a small sub group. Others are regional and are noted as appropriate.
Another recommended link - http://www.innvista.com/culture/travel/rail/mindex.htm - as of September 2007 it was last updated in February 2007 and less complete than this site for non-mainstream areas, but necessarily it may be updated, but it will be a good source for the USA, Canada, Australasia and Western Europe.
As always Wikipedia is worth a look but when I checked this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_museum it had far fewer entries in my areas than are on this page.
This list was first produced in May 2007, additions will be indicated as appropriate immediately below here.
Additional items on Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe (7th July 2007).
Additions to the entry on India (28th July 2007), Latvia (4th August 2007), Lithuania (9th August 2007), Serbia (22nd August 2007), Mongolia (24th August 2007), Nigeria (31st August 2007) and Greece (1st September 2007)
Additional items on Spain (25th September 2007) and Turkey (2nd October 2007)
Updates on Latvia (10th October 2007) and Greece (18th October 2007).
Updates on Russia (24th November 2007), Venezuela (24th November 2007), Argentina (10th December 2007) and Uzbekistan (10th December 2007)
Additional items on Holland (26th January 2008), Japan (25th February 2008) and Italy (28th February 2008).
Updates on Slovenia (18th March 2008), India (14th April 2008) and Russia (31st May 2008)
Additional entry on Denmark (1st June 2008) and Mexico (21st June 2008), updates on Italy and Poland (21st June 2008).
Africa
Egypt.
There is a long established museum in Cairo, see http://www.touregypt.net/railmuseum.htm. There are four steam pictures on this page - http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ne/Egypt/pix.html.
There is a long established museum in Nairobi, there is no official website but see http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/Kenya/nrm.html, more pictures are on http://sa-transport.co.za/trains/museums/nairobi_railway_museum.html (added 7th July 2007)
There are occasional public and private steam specials - see the Africa section of this site.
The TransNamib Museum is at Windhoek. It only has one narrow gauge steam locomotive (there are a number of others elsewhere in Namibia), but Thomas Kautzor tells me that the small exhibits inside, including photos and documents, are of great interest to railway enthusiasts. See http://www.namibweb.com/railmuseum.htm and http://sa-transport.co.za/trains/museums/transnamib_railway_museum.html (all this added 7th July 2007).
There is a museum near the Nigerian Railways headquarters at Ebute Metta - the only report I have seen of it is on Trevor Heath's site (added 31st August 2007).
A museum was established here as part of attempts to rehabilitate the country - click here for my copy of an original official article which is no longer available.
South Africa
There are many steam sites, please consult the Africa section of this site, but arguably most noteworthy are those at Sandstone (http://www.sandstone-estates.com/) and George - see (http://www.onlinesources.co.za/chootjoe/).
Tanzania
There are occasional public and private steam specials - see the Africa section of this site.
There is a museum at Livingstone, there is no official website but see http://www.mapasa.com/railway/railway.htm, http://www.geoffs-trains.com/Museum/livingstonemuseum.html and http://www.sa-transport.co.za/trains/zambia/zambia.html (latter two links added 7th July 2007).
There is a long established museum in Bulawayo, there is no official website but see http://www.geoffs-trains.com/Museum/Museumhome.html and http://sa-transport.co.za/trains/museums/bulawayo_railway_museum/brm.html (latter link added 7th July 2007).
There are occasional public and private steam specials.
Americas
Argentina (updated 10th December 2007)
There are occasional public and private steam specials - see Americas section of this site. Ferroclub Argentino maintain the Escalada Railway Museum which was formerly the main running shed serving Plaza Constitucion station in Buenos Aires, there is a collection of broad gauge locomotives and rolling stock present. See http://www.porlosrielesdelsud.com.ar/club/englifcl.html. (Museum data added 10th December 2007) .
Brazil
There are a number of tourist railways and museums - see the ABPF websites (national - www.abpf.org.br/ and various regional ones particularly the São Paulo one www.abpfsp.com.br/). Particularly noteworthy is the museum for the funicular railway at Paranapiacaba (see http://www.abpfsp.com.br/museu_ferroviario_paranapiacaba.htm) and the operational narrow gauge railway and museum at São João d'El Rey in West Minas (see http://www.revistaferroviaria.com.br/memoriaferroviaria/materia3P.htm and http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Sparta/8579/ingles.htm).
Chile
There is railway museum in Santiago - see http://www.lcgb.org.uk/html/santiagomuseum.htm for a report of a visit. The shed at Temuco has also functioned as a museum in the past.
There are occasional public and private steam specials - see Americas section of this site.
Colombia
There are occasional public and private steam specials - see Americas section of this site.
Cuba
There is a developing Railway Museum at Cristina Station in Havana - mention of it is made in trip reports (2005-7) in the Americas section of this site.
There are occasional private steam specials.
Ecuador
There are occasional private steam specials - see Americas section of this site.
This list was culled from Wikipedia, I would appreciate visitor reports, necessarily these links
Museo de los Ferrocarriles de Yucatán, Mérida, Yucatán - http://celorio.com/mfy/roster.htm see also Keith Smith's report of a May 2008 visit.
Ferrocarril Interoceanico heritage railway & museum. Cuautla, Morelos - http://www.rinconestudiantil.com/morelosnatural/Webs/Turismo/Tren_escenico.htm
Museo Nacional de los Ferrocarriles Mexicanos, Puebla, Puebla - http://www.museoferrocarriles.org.mx (link may be dead)
Museo Tecnológico de la Comisión Federal de Electricidad (MUTEC), Mexico City - http://www.cfe.gob.mx/mutec/tren_olivo.htm
Museo del Ferrocarril de Torreón, Torreón, Coahuila - http://www.torreon.gob.mx/english/the_city/turism/museos/ferrocarril_english.php
Peru
There are occasional private steam specials - see Americas section of this site.
Venezuela (updated 24th November 2007)
Wayne Weiss points out that a number of steam locomotives are preserved in Museo de Transporte, Parque del Este, Caracas, which is a short walk from Los Caminos station on the Metro system. I cannot access the museum's website from here in China - http://www.museotransporte-caracas.com but 14 steam locomotives are listed on this web page http://www.steamlocomotive.info/country.cfm?which=venezuela. Some exhibits are from Puerto Rico - brought for a failed tourist railway project including a rare Glover. There are also a Sentinel and an extremely unusual Bell 0-4-0T. The latter is an American loco similar to a Sentinel using Stanley Steamer designs and concepts, it may be the only one of its kind left in the world, see http://www.gearedsteam.com/bell/bell.htm (details of exhibits added 24th November 2007).
Asia
China
There are four major museums These sites are in Chinese unless otherwise stated:
Beijing - http://www.chinasteam.com/museum.htm and http://home.c2i.net/schaefer/railwaymuseum/ (English)
Shenyang - http://www.syslm.com.cn
Shanghai - http://www.shrail.com/bwg/tlbwg.htm - link down in May 2007
Kunming -at Kunming Bei Station
Hong Kong
India (updated 14th April 2008)
There is a general (unofficial) website which may develop and prove useful http://www.freewebs.com/nrlym/ otherwise check out http://www.irfca.org
There are two major museums:
New Delhi - see this unofficial site http://www.railinindia.tripod.com/nrm.html and http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Heritage (the latter added 14th April 2008)
Mysore - see this unofficial site http://www.mysore.net/travel/railwaymuseum.htm and http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Heritage (the latter added 14th April 2008)
Minor museums are known to exist too:
Howrah - see http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Heritage
Nagpur - see http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Members/VikasSingh/VikasSinghNagpurNGMuseum
Pune - see http://www.minirailways.com/ and http://minirailways.tripod.com/modelrailway.htm, also http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Heritage/CME-Museum/ (the latter added 14th April 2008)
Regional Rail Museum Perambur (Works), Chennai/ Madras
Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh)
The College of Military Engineering (CME) at Khadki (Dapodi), Pune, has a museum with several old railway exhibits including locomotives and other rolling stock.
There are occasional public and private steam specials. The public ones are generally poorly advertised in advance and liable to last minute change of dates!Indonesia
There are two railway museums on Java, that at Ambarawa operates occasional private special trains up the rack railway. See the unofficial site http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/ambarawa/museum.htm
That in Jakarta is 100% static. See the unofficial site http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/ambarawa/tmlocos.htm
Israel
Japan (added 25th February 2008)
Chris Walker tells me that a major railway museum opened near Tokyo on 14th October 2007. The official website http://www.railway-museum.jp/top.html is all in Japanese, of course, but there is clearly an excellent collection here. For English language information check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Museum_%28Saitama%29 but I can't access this here in China.
Jordan
There are occasional private steam charters.
Malaysia
The North Borneo Railway operated regular steam out of Kota Kinabalu in Sabah but the service was suspended in 2007 while upgrading of the line was carried out. See www.northborneorailway.com.my.
Colin Young tells me that there is a small open air museum in Ulaan Bataar, which he saw from a passing bus but didn't visit. There are at least 3 steam locomotives here, one of which is a P36. More information would be appreciated.
Myanmar
There are occasional private steam charters.
Nepal
There are very occasional private steam charters.
Pakistan
There is a museum near Rawalpindi. See the Pakistan Railways website http://www.pakrail.com or specifically http://www.pakrail.com/her4.asp.
There are occasional private steam charters and semi-public trains up the Khyber Pass from time to time, although as of late-2007 services had been suspended for some time after monsoon damage..
Sri Lanka
There are occasional private steam charters.
Syria
There are occasional private steam charters, in former years there were weekend steam specials from Damascus up to which may resume at least in part..
Taiwan
There is a museum at Miaoli see http://museum.cca.gov.tw/en/directory/show.php?id=171 (I cannot verify this link as it is not accessible to me.) There are plans to convert the old steam shed at Changwa into a national railway museum.
Thailand
There are occasional public steam specials from Bangkok to Ayuthaya, traditionally these occur on 26th March, 12th August, 23rd October and 5th December. Tickets are available some 2-3 weeks in advance but often just jumping on the train and paying will work if they are officially 'sold out'.
There is a small private museum in Bangkok, in the park north of the 'Weekend Market', see my report.
There is a museum at Camlik, see this unofficial website http://www.trainsofturkey.com/museum.htm. Other places of museum interest are also covered on this comprehensive site. James Waite has sent a report on the preserved railway attractions of Istanbul, which includes the Rahmi M Koç museum, Istanbul (added 2nd October 2007).
Uzbekistan (updated 10th December 2007)
See Torsten Schneider's pictures of the Tashkent Railway Museum and a further set from Colin Young (added 10th December 2007)
Europe (mainly non-mainstream)
The choice of countries is arbitrary and is restricted to those in the eastern part and Scandinavia, most countries in Western Europe have preserved steam operations and national railway museums with official websites which are easily located using search engines, those further east are less well known.... This list is not by any means inclusive of smaller sites, some of which are operational, for lists which includes many European Museum sites see http://www.heritagerailways.com/world.html (English only) European Federation of Museum & Tourist Railways http://www.fedecrail.org/en/index_en.html and http://www.innvista.com/culture/travel/rail/museuro.htm (various languages). If you are prepared to spend some time browsing then the pictures on this site will take you to many preservation sites - http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix_frameset.html.
There are railway museums in Brest (opened in 2002) and Baranovichi (opened in 1999), see http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/by/steam/pix.html for some good pictures. These appear to be major collections....
Bulgaria
The National Museum of Transport and Communication is at Rousse, see http://www.museums.hit.bg/ which has some English content.
Croatia
There is a railway museum in Zagreb, see the unofficial site http://www.mytrains.at/eisenbahnmuseum_zagreb.htm which is in German.
Czech Republic
The Czech railway museum is at Lužné (Luzna), see http://www.os.cd.cz/muzeum/ which has some English content. For an English language introduction see http://www.czechtourism.com/133premier/en/cd/en/memories/memo055.htm.
Denmark (updated 1st June 2008)
The Danish Railway Museum is in Odense, see www.jernbanemuseum.dk/GB/index_gb.html. There is a small narrow gauge museum at the Hedelands Railway, http:// www.ibk.dk, James Waite was here in May 2008.
Estonia
The main Railway Museum is in Haapsalu, see http://www.jaam.ee/index.php?lk=25. (limited English information).
See also http://www.museumrailway.ee/ which is a preserved narrow gauge railway as opposed to a traditional museum.
Finland
The Finnish Railway Museum is at Hyvinkää, see www.rautatie.org/web/en/start.asp. Harvey Smith has produced a feature on the country which includes Hyvinkää's international collection of 19th century steam locomotives.
Greece (updated 18th October 2007)
There is a railway museum in Athens see http://www.greece-museums.com/museum/29/ and there seems to be an embryonic railway museum in Thessaloniki - see http://www.greece-museums.com/museum/95/. There is also an open air museum at Kalamata, see http://www.greece-museums.com/museum/48/ and http://www.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=3499. Keith Smith reported on his visit to Thessalonika (18th October 2007).
Holland (added 26th January 2008)
James Waite has been to the railway museum at Utrecht, parts of it are excellent but for me the most interesting exhibit (CC5022) is almost invisible! You can read his report (added 26th January 2008).
The 'Hungarian Railway Historical Park' see http://www.museum.hu/search/museum_en.asp?id=76 is a museum based on the site of the former Budapest North locoshed. For a range of pictures of the steam locomotive exhibits, see http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/hu/museum/Fusti/steam/pix.html.
Peter Nettleship recommends the Budapest Children's Railway (formerly the Young Pioneers' Railway until 1990), in the Buda Hills and easily combined with rides on the tram and funicular - see http://www.gyermekvasut.com/english.html.
The Italian national railway museum in Naples is open (again) at long last. James Waite visited in January 2008.
There is also a national transport museum at La Spezia with rail exhibits (including steam locomotives) - see http://www.museonazionaletrasporti.it/ (added 21st June 2008).
Latvia updated 10th October 2007
There are railway museums in Riga and Jelgava, see http://www.railwaymuseum.lv/index-eng.htm. Click here for a report on a visit here from James Waite (updated 10th October 2007).
Lithuania updated 9th August 2007
There is a railway museum in Vilnius, see http://muziejai.mch.mii.lt/Vilnius/Gelezinkeliu_muziejus.en.htm and a narrow gauge museum which is part of the at Anyksciai station on the Panevezys-Anyksciai-Rubikiai preserved railway, see James Waite's report of a July 2007 visit..
Norway (updated 21st June 2008)
The national railway museums is in Hamar, see http://www.norway.com/directories/d_company.asp?id=9230. The official website http://www.norsk-jernbanemuseum.no/ is still 100% in Norwegian and not very well developed. See James Waite's excellent report from June 2008 (added 21st June 2008).
Poland (updated 21st June 2008)
There is a railway museum at Chabówka, see http://www.parowozy.pl/steamtrains/.
There is a narrow gauge railway museum at Wenecja - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow_Gauge_Railway_Museum_in_Wenecja and the Polish language official site http://www.paluki.pl/mzp/kolejka.php. (added 21st June 2008).
There is a railway museum in North Bucharest, for pictures see http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ro/steam/misc/pix.html. There is also a steam railway museum in Sibiu see http://www.enzia.com/Pages/Railpg6.html.
Russia (updated 31st May 2008)
For the indoor museum in St. Petersburg, see www.museum.ru/Museum/RAILWAY/museng.htm or http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/central-railway-museum.asp. However for most enthusiasts it is the outdoor museum which is the attraction, but there seem to be few pictures on the web, Harvey Smith has rectified this with some images taken during his stay in the city in early 2006.
There is a narrow gauge railway and museum at Pereslavl, see http://narrow.parovoz.com/pereslavl/main-e.html and the official site (in Russian) http://kukushka.ru (added 31st May 2008).
Lenin's funeral train is preserved near Paveletsy Station in Moscow, it includes 4-6-0 U-127. Harvey Smith has now sent some pictures (3rd September 2007).
Harvey Smith has also sent information about other preserved items in Moscow (updated 3rd September 2007).
The Rizhskaya Railway Museum in Moscow (opened in 2004) does not seem to have an English language website, but I found three pictures of exhibits here - http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?city=Moscow&country=Russia. The following steam locomotives have been reported - (Em 740-57 , Er 766-11 , FD21-3125 , L 2342 , LV 0441 , Ov 841 , SO17 2211 , TE 5415 and a 9R , now numbered 17347). L 3348 is now reported by Caspar Bielok to be additional exhibit in working order and used to ferry visitors in and out. There is an English language report of it http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/11/13/026.html but like all newspaper items it may be ephemeral (added 24th November 2007).
I have also seen references to railway museums in Nizhni Novgorod (where there is a part steam operated children's railway) and Novosibirsk. Colin Young has now sent a nice set of pictures of the museum at Novosibirsk.
There is a narrow gauge railway and museum at Mokra Gora, see this page for basic information - http://www.zlatibor.co.yu/voz/english/--%20sarganska8%20--.htm. Pozega Railway Museum has a collection of narrow gauge steam locomotives which may one day be sent to Mokra Gora where they would probably be better taken care of. You can read James Waite's account of a 2005 visit (added 22nd August 2007).
There is a railway museum in Belgrade, see the official site http://www.yurail.co.yu/eng/kultura/muzej.htm and this unofficial site http://www.angelfire.com/co3/drustvo/roundhou.htm.
Slovakia
There is a railway museum in Bratislava, see the unofficial site http://members.surfeu.at/magag/skmuseumbratislava.htm. For many preserved steam images, check out the links on http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/sk/steam/pix.html.
Slovenia (updated 18th March 2008)
There is a large railway museum in Ljubljana, see www.burger.si/MuzejiInGalerije/ZelezniskiMuzej/index.html, also for some pictures http://www.mytrains.at/eisenbahnmuseum_ljubljana.htm and http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/si/museum/pix.html. James Waite was here in March 2008 and sent me an illustrated report (added 18th March 2008).
Spain (added 25th September 2007)
For information on the Madrid Railway Museum and links to websites for others, check out James Waite's notes (25th September 2007).
Sweden
The national railway museum has two sites Gävle, Gästrikland and Ängelholm, see http://www.banverket.se/en-gb/Swedish-Railway-Museum/Huvudrubriker/About-Banverket-Telenet.aspx.
Ukraine
There is railway museum at Donetsk see http://www.donetskplus.com/portal/profile.do?profileID=1016677. Check out the images descriptions from this page for more ideas on preserved steam in the Ukraine - http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ua/steam/pix.html.
Australasia
There are many links available on this site, I am not going to repeat them here as it would be twice the maintenance work to do so....
Australia
See http://internationalsteam.co.uk/anz/ausop.htm and Association of Tourist and Heritage Rail Australia (ATHRA) - www.athra.asn.au.
New Zealand
See http://internationalsteam.co.uk/anz/nzop.htm, National Federation of Rail Societies and http://www.nzmuseums.co.nz.
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Rob Dickinson
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