Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum
| Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Kyoto city | |
| Established | October 10, 1972 |
| Location | Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan |
| Coordinates | 34°59′13.98″N 135°44′35.24″E / 34.9872167°N 135.7431222°ECoordinates: 34°59′13.98″N 135°44′35.24″E / 34.9872167°N 135.7431222°E |
| Type | Railway museum |
| Owner | JR West |
| Public transit access |
Umekoji Koen-mae, Kyoto City Bus Tambaguchi Station, JR West Sagano Line |
| Nearest car park | Umekoji Park |
| Website |
www |
Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum (梅小路蒸気機関車館 Umekōji Jōkikikansha-kan) is a railway museum located in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. Opened in 1972, the locomotive depot houses 19 steam locomotives.
The museum is owned by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and is operated by Transportation Culture Promotion Foundation.
Facility
At the center of the museum is a 20-track roundhouse built in 1914. It was built surrounding a turntable and houses and exhibits the preserved locomotives. The roundhouse is an Important Cultural Property designated by the government of Japan as the oldest reinforced concrete-made car shed extant in Japan.[1]
Exhibition of other historical materials is in a two-story wooden building adjacent to the roundhouse. This is the former station building of Nijō Station in Kyoto. The building was built in 1904 and was moved to the museum ground in 1997.[2]
There is also a short "exhibition operation" track to operate trains. Steam train hauled by either C62, C61, D51 or 8620 class locomotive operates three times a day and makes a round trip on the track in about 10 minutes. Visitors can ride the train for 200 yen (adult) charge.[3]
History
The museum was opened by Japanese National Railways (JNR) on October 10, 1972 commemorating the centennial of the railway in Japan.[4] When JNR was divided into regional companies in 1987, the museum was inherited by JR West.
Exhibits
The following 19 locomotives are on display.[5]
- JNR Class 1070 – No. 1080
- JNR Class 8620 – No. 8630
- JNR Class 9600 – No. 9633
- JNR Class B20 – No. B20 10
- JNR Class C11 – No. C11 64
- JNR Class C51 – No. C51 239
- JNR Class C53 – No. C53 45
- JNR Class C55 – No. C55 1
- JNR Class C56 – No. C56 160
- JNR Class C57 – No. C57 1
- JNR Class C58 – No. C58 1
- JNR Class C59 – No. C59 164
- JNR Class C61 – No. C61 2
- JNR Class C62 – Nos. C62 1 and C62 2
- JNR Class D50 – No. D50 140
- JNR Class D51 – Nos. D51 1 and D51 200
- JNR Class D52 – No. D52 468
Among these locomotives, No. 1080 of Class 1070 was added to the exhibits in 2009, donated by Nittetsu Mining.[6]
Locomotives C56 160 and C57 1 are occasionally operated out of the museum, especially on the semi-regular service on the Yamaguchi Line.
Access
Umekōji-kōen-mae bus stop is located adjacent to the museum and served by frequent city bus routes (Routes 205, 208, 33) from Kyoto Station.
The nearest railway station is Tambaguchi Station on the Sagano Line (Sanin Main Line), about 15 minutes walk from the museum.
Expansion plan
On 19 December 2012, JR West officially announced its plans to open a new railway museum next to the Umekoji museum, which will be unified with the existing museum facilities.[7] It was announced on 18 December 2013 that the new name will be known as the Kyoto Railway Museum (京都鉄道博物館 Kyōto Tetsudō Hakubutsukan).[8] The museum is to be expanded with the addition of two new large exhibition halls adjacent to the existing roundhouse, opening in spring 2016. The new building will be three-storied, with total floor space of 18,800 square meters. The construction cost was announced to be 7.0 billion yen. The new museum is due to house approximately 50 railway vehicles, including 23 steam locomotives, six shinkansen vehicles, four electric locomotives, and four diesel locomotives. The new museum will also have driving simulators of both commuter lines and Shinkansen lines, boarding experience of operating steam locomotives, operation of miniature trains and railroads.[9][7]
After the expansion, the new unified museum will have exhibit space covering 31,000 square meters. It will be the largest railway museum in Japan in both terms of floor space and the number of trains exhibited, 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 is scheduled to close on 6 April 2014, and the exhibits housed there will subsequently be moved to the new railway museum in Kyoto.[10]
References
- ↑ Official website of the museum. Retrieved on August 29, 2009. (Japanese)
- ↑ Official website of the museum. Retrieved on August 29, 2009. (Japanese)
- ↑ Official website of the museum. Retrieved on August 30, 2009. (Japanese)
- ↑ Japan Railfan Magazine October 1993 issue, p. 20
- ↑ Official website of the museum. Retrieved on August 29, 2009. (Japanese)
- ↑ Official website of the museum. Retrieved on 16 January 2010. (Japanese)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 2016年(平成28年)春、京都･梅小路エリアに新たな鉄道博物館が開業します [New railway museum to open in Kyoto/Umekoji area in spring 2016]. Press release (in Japanese). West Japan Railway Company. 19 December 2012. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ↑ 鉄道博物館の名称が決まりました [Railway museum name fixed]. Press release (in Japanese). Japan: West Japan Railway Company. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ↑ 京都・梅小路エリアに新たな鉄道博物館 [New railway museum for Umekoji, Kyoto]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2012.
- ↑ 52年分の感謝と共に、交通科学博物館の営業を終了します [Modern Transportation Museum to close after 52 years]. Press release (in Japanese). West Japan Railway Company. 24 July 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum. |