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 car shed extant in Japan.[1]
Additional historical artifacts are exhibited 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 grounds in 1997.[2]
Short "exhibition operation" excursions are conducted on dedicated track on the museum grounds. Steam trains hauled by either C62, C61, D51 or 8620 class locomotives operate three times a day, making a round-trip on the track in about 10 minutes. Visitors can ride the train for 200 yen (adult).[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 consolidated facility will be known as the Kyoto Railway Museum (京都鉄道博物館 Kyōto Tetsudō Hakubutsukan).[8] The museum expansion will include the addition of two new large exhibition halls built adjacent to the existing roundhouse, opening on 29 April 2016.[9] The new building will be three stories high, with a total floor space of 18,800 square meters. The construction cost was announced to be 7.0 billion yen. The new museum will 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. The steam locomotive riding experience currently offered at the Umekoji museum will be retained, along with the addition of miniature train railroads.[10][7]
Once the expansion is complete, the new museum will contain exhibit space covering 31,000 square meters. It will be the largest railway museum in Japan both in 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 closed on 6 April 2014, and the exhibits housed there were subsequently moved to the new railway museum in Kyoto.[11]
Planned exhibits
The rolling stock that will be exhibited at the new museum is as follows.[12]
Steam locomotives
| Type | Number | Manufacturer | Year built | Exhibition area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JGR Class 7100 | 7105 | H.K. Porter (USA) | 1880 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class 1800 | 1801 | Kitson (UK) | 1881 | Main hall |
| JNR Class 1070 | 1080 | Dubs (UK) | 1901 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class 230 | 233 | Kisha Seizo | 1903 | Main hall |
| JNR Class 8620 | 8630 | Kisha Seizo | 1914 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class 9600 | 9633 | Kawasaki | 1914 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class D50 | D50 140 | Hitachi | 1926 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C51 | C51 239 | Kisha Seizo | 1927 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C53 | C53 45 | Kisha Seizo | 1928 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C11 | C11 64 | Kawasaki | 1935 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C55 | C55 1 | Kawasaki | 1935 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class D51 | D51 1 | Kawasaki | 1936 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C57 | C57 1 | Kawasaki | 1937 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class D51 | D51 200 | JNR Hamamatsu | 1938 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C58 | C58 1 | Kisha Seizo | 1938 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C56 | C56 160 | Kawasaki | 1939 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class B20 | B20 10 | Tateyama | 1946 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class D52 | D52 468 | Mitsubishi | 1946 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C59 | C59 164 | Hitachi | 1946 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C62 | C62 1 | Hitachi | 1948 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C62 | C62 2 | Hitachi | 1948 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C61 | C61 2 | Mitsubishi | 1948 | Roundhouse |
| JNR Class C62 | C62 26 | Kawasaki | 1948 | Promenade |
Diesel locomotives
| Type | Number | Manufacturer | Year built | Exhibition area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class DD54 | DD54 33 | Mitsubishi | 1971 | Promenade |
| Class DD51 | DD51 756 | Hitachi | 1972 | Main hall |
Electric locomotives
| Type | Number | Manufacturer | Year built | Exhibition area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class EF52 | EF52 1 | Hitachi | 1928 | Main hall |
| Class EF58 | EF58 150 | Tokyo Shibaura Denki | 1958 | Old Kyoto Station area |
| Class EF65 | EF65 1 | Kawasaki | 1965 | Old Kyoto Station area |
| Class EF81 | EF81 103 | Hitachi | 1974 | Old Kyoto Station area |
| Class EF66 | EF66 35 | Toyo Denki/Kawasaki | 1974 | Main hall |
Shinkansen
| Type | Number | Manufacturer | Year built | Exhibition area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 series | 21-1 | Nippon Sharyo | 1964 | Promenade |
| 0 series | 16-1 | Nippon Sharyo | 1964 | Promenade |
| 0 series | 35-1 | Nippon Sharyo | 1964 | Promenade |
| 0 series | 22-1 | Nippon Sharyo | 1964 | Promenade |
| 100 series | 122-5003 | Hitachi | 1989 | Main hall |
| 500 series | 521-1 | Kawasaki Heavy Industries | 1996 | Main hall |
EMUs
| Type | Number | Manufacturer | Year built | Exhibition area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 series | MoHa 80-1 | Hitachi | 1950 | Promenade |
| 86 series | KuHa 86-1 | Hitachi | 1950 | Promenade |
| 103 series | KuHa 103-1 | Nippon Sharyo | 1963 | Promenade |
| 581 series | KuHaNe 581-35 | Hitachi | 1968 | Main hall |
| 489 series | KuHa 489-1 | Tokyu Car | 1971 | Main hall |
DMUs
| Type | Number | Manufacturer | Year built | Exhibition area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KiHa 81 series | KiHa 81-3 | Kinki Sharyo | 1960 | Main hall |
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)
- 1 2 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.
- ↑ 京都鉄道博物館，2016年4月29日にオープン [Kyoto Railway Museum to open 29 April 2016]. Japan Railfan Magazine Online (in Japanese). Japan: Koyusha Co., Ltd. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 「京都鉄道博物館」展示車両が決定 [Kyoto Railway Museum rolling stock exhibits announced]. Tetsudō Daiya Jōhō Magazine (in Japanese). Vol. 44 no. 375 (Japan: Kōtsū Shimbun). July 2015. p. 73.
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