International Railroad Discussion > Visiting the Kyoto Railway Museum, Part 1

Temples and shirines are fine, I like them too, but a visit to Kyoto without stopping in at the train museum isn't a complete visit to Kyoto!

John

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Oh  I want the steam engine

Awesome!  Spent several hours there a couple of Sundays ago.  It’s the best railroad museum I’ve ever seen.  Even has an observation deck overlooking the JR East main and Tokaido Shinkansen.

Dave

DavidP Wrote:
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> Awesome!  Spent several hours there a couple of
> Sundays ago.  It’s the best railroad museum
> I’ve ever seen.  Even has an observation deck
> overlooking the JR East main and Tokaido
> Shinkansen.
>
> Dave

How would you compare it to the one in Saitama, just north of Tokyo?
 

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Wow!!!

Kyoto has some competition.  Japan funds its railway museums well, I guess.  Now I know where I have to go next time I get to Japan.

John

I visted that museum last year, it's worth it too! Excellent pictures too.

symph1 Wrote:
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> How would you compare it to the one in Saitama,
> just north of Tokyo?

When Umekoji Museum was remodeled as the Kyoto Railway Museum, it combined exhibits from the ex-Osaka Transportation Museum (closed), then borrowed some ideas from the museum in Saitama to organize the exhibits. In my opinion, many things are similar between the two, although the Kyoto Railway Museum has an ATCS-type display on the top floor where you can use that to "foam" the revenue trains running nearby. 

The Railway Museum in Saitama only has a paper schedule of the Shinkansens posted on the "observation area", no real time ATCS-type display, at least not when I last visited (2017).

As an "evolution" of the Umekoji Museum, the Kyoto Museum kept its roots, which is steam. They have about half a dozen in operating condition, and they run them on the short museum tracks. I caught the legendary C62 running last time I was there. Saitama Museum doesn't have that.

However, if I were to pick one or the other, I'd pick the Railway Museum in Saitama, because their static displays chronicle the history of Japanese railroading better than the Kyoto Museum. However, if the visitor want to learn more about regional history (Kansai area), then the combined exhibits from Umekoji and Osaka museums tell a great story.

FYI, both Saitama and Kyoto have the EF66 locomotive on display.

DavidP Wrote:
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> Awesome!  Spent several hours there a couple of
> Sundays ago.  It’s the best railroad museum
> I’ve ever seen.  Even has an observation deck
> overlooking the JR East main and Tokaido
> Shinkansen.
>
> Dave

Minor nitpick, but tracks visible from Kyoto Railway's observation deck is JR West.

JR West is a major sponsor for the museum, and there's a similar arrangement for The Railway Museum in Saitama, where JR East is a major sponsor.