Kyoto Railway Museum


The Kyoto Railway Museum is a railway museum in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, 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 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.
This is a three-storey building completed in April 2016.

Roundhouse

The roundhouse was built surrounding a turntable. It is an Important Cultural Property designated by the government of Japan as the oldest reinforced-concrete car shed extant in Japan.

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.

Exhibits

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

Steam locomotives

TypeNumberManufacturerYear builtExhibition area
JGR Class 71007105H.K. Porter, Inc. 1880Roundhouse
JGR Class 18001801Kitson and Company 1881Main hall
JGR Class 10701080Dubs 1901Roundhouse
JGR Class 230233Kisha Seizo1903Main hall
JGR Class 86208630Kisha Seizo1914Roundhouse
JNR Class 96009633Kawasaki1914Roundhouse
JNR Class D50D50 140Hitachi1926Roundhouse
JNR Class C51C51 239Kisha Seizo1927Roundhouse
JNR Class C53C53 45Kisha Seizo1928Roundhouse
JNR Class C11C11 64Kawasaki1935Roundhouse
JNR Class C55C55 1Kawasaki1935Roundhouse
JNR Class D51D51 1Kawasaki1936Roundhouse
JNR Class C57C57 1Kawasaki1937Roundhouse
JNR Class D51D51 200JNR Hamamatsu1938Roundhouse
JNR Class C58C58 1Kisha Seizo1938Roundhouse
JNR Class C56C56 160Kawasaki1939Roundhouse
JNR Class B20B20 10Tateyama1946Roundhouse
JNR Class D52D52 468Mitsubishi1946Roundhouse
JNR Class C59C59 164Hitachi1946Roundhouse
JNR Class C62C62 1Hitachi1948Roundhouse
JNR Class C62C62 2Hitachi1948Roundhouse
JNR Class C61C61 2Mitsubishi1948Roundhouse
JNR Class C62C62 26Kawasaki1948Promenade

Diesel locomotives

TypeNumberManufacturerYear builtExhibition areaRemarks
Class DD54DD54 33Mitsubishi1971Promenade
Class DD51DD51 756Hitachi1972Main hall
Class 912912-63Main hallFront end only

Electric locomotives

TypeNumberManufacturerYear builtExhibition areaRemarks
Class EF52EF52 1Hitachi1928Main HallBrown livery
Class EF58EF58 150Tokyo Shibaura Denki1958Twilight PlazaBlue livery
Class EF65EF65 1Kawasaki1965Twilight PlazaBlue livery
Class EF81EF81 103Hitachi1974Twilight PlazaTwilight Express green livery
Class EF66EF66 35Toyo Denki/Kawasaki1974Main HallBlue livery

Shinkansen

TypeNumberManufacturerYear builtExhibition area
0 series21-1Nippon Sharyo1964Promenade
0 series16-1Nippon Sharyo1964Promenade
0 series35-1Nippon Sharyo1964Promenade
0 series22-1Nippon Sharyo1964Promenade
100 series122-5003Hitachi1989Main Hall
500 series521-1Kawasaki Heavy Industries1996Main Hall

EMUs

TypeNumberManufacturerYear builtExhibition areaRemarks
80 seriesKuHa 86001Hitachi1950PromenadeOrange/green Shonan livery
80 seriesMoHa 80001Hitachi1950PromenadeOrange/green Shonan livery
103 seriesKuHa 103-1Nippon Sharyo1963PromenadeVermillion orange livery
581 seriesKuHaNe 581-35Hitachi1968Main Hall
489 seriesKuHa 489-1Tokyu Car1971Main Hall

DMUs

TypeNumberManufacturerYear builtExhibition area
KiHa 81 seriesKiHa 81-3Kinki Sharyo1960Main Hall

Coaches

TypeNumberManufacturerYear builtExhibition areaRemarks
SuShi 28SuShi 28 301Nippon Sharyo1933PromenadeBrown livery
MaRoNeFu 59MaRoNeFu 59 1Kisha Seizo1955Main HallBrown livery
OHa 46OHa 46 13Nippon Sharyo1933PromenadeBrown livery
20 seriesNashi 20 24Nippon Sharyo1970PromenadeBlue livery
24 seriesORoNe 24 4Hitachi1972Twilight PlazaBlue livery
50 seriesOHaFu 50 68 1977RoundhouseRed livery
24 seriesSushi 24-11988Twilight PlazaTwilight Express livery
24 seriesSuRoNeFu 25-5011989Twilight PlazaTwilight Express livery
24 seriesOHa 25-5511989Main HallTwilight Express livery
24 seriesKaNi 24-121975Main HallTwilight Express livery

Freight wagons

TypeNumberManufacturerYear builtExhibition areaRemarks
WaMu 3500WaMu 7055Nippon Sharyo1917Main HallBlack livery
Yo 5000Yo 5008Kawasaki Sharyo1959Main HallLight green livery

History

The museum was opened by Japanese National Railways 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.

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 in Saitama and JR Central's SCMaglev and Railway Park in Nagoya.
The expansion became necessary due to the aging facilities of the Modern Transportation Museum in Osaka. 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.