China
(updated 13th December 2019)
Robin Gibbons site has a list of known preserved steam locomotives from
which the rosters of the museums below can be worked out.
http://www.railwaysofchina.com/preserved.htm (link dead by October 2014)
There are five major museums. These sites are in Chinese unless otherwise
stated:
Beijing - china/museum.htm/.
Neil Smith gives these instructions based on an October 2015 visit:
"Take
the underground to Dong Zhi Men (Line 2). Follow signs for Bus Transfer
Hall or go out of Exit B and enter Bus Station. Take bus 418 to Nan Gao
Xiz Han, nineteen stops away and a ride of about 45 minutes. Ask the
conductress for help and check the route map on the bus. Get off the
bus, walk back about 100 metres to the first left turn opposite a
pretty painted school. Walk about 600 metres passing the police station
and works opening with a rocky water feature and at the second left
turn the museum sign (huge) will be facing you at the end of the street.
Alternatively
for a shorter bus ride take underground to Jiangtai (Line 14) go out of
exit A and walk down road to bus stop and take same bus 418 to Nan Gao
Xiz Han."
Having lived in this area from 2004 to 2010, my recollection is that the
403 bus (from Beijing Zhan) terminated closer to the museum, you just needed
to walk on across the level crossing, and keep left. Of course, my extremely
rare visits were on my bicycle! (29th October 2015).
Shenyang - The museum has led a somewhat peripatetic existence since
2002, moving from Sujiatun (64, Zhonggong North Street, Tiexi District Shenyang)
to the Botanical Gardens, to the Tiexi Firest Park and then back to a new
site in Sujiatun in late 2009.
Duncan Cotterell's 2011 report of a visit mentions the major exhibits http://www.railography.co.uk/reports/2011/11/report.htm
(27th December 2013). Neil Smith was denied entry in
October 2015 and his Chinese friend was told it was strictly only for
railwaymen and officials. (29th October 2015).
By 2019, the museum was open to all comers and you can
read Neil's account with a link to his Flickr folder. (1st November
2019)
Shanghai - http://www.museum.shrail.com
(Chinese language, 27th December 2013, link broken by 1st
November 2018)
Kunming - at Kunming Bei Station china/trains/china262.htm
(English, added 1st March 2009)
Da'an Bei - maybe not a 'museum' as such but a well presented open air
collection of many steam locomotives of the final steam era (27th
December 2013). Dave Fielding of SY-Country tells me "At the 'opening'
of the collection at Spring Holiday 2012, there were 79 locos, 42xQJ,
34xJS and 3xSY, stuffed and mounted with one additional SY in working
order. Since then more locos have arrived and there have been
references to 'over 100 steam locomotives' by visitors." The site can
be seen on Google Earth / Maps, enter 45°31'37.78"N
124°14'27.85"E.
Peter Crush has sent information on the Kailuan
Mining Group's Museum in Tangshan which contains 3 replica steam
locomotives (13th December 2019).
Hong Kong
See http://www.heritagemuseum.gov.hk/en_US/web/hm/museums/railway.html.
(Link amended 10th October 2014)
India
The major museums are listed below but there is also an
official Indian Railways list available (6th November 2017), but as such
links are notoriously ephemeral, I have reproduced it below.
There is a general (unofficial) website which may develop and prove useful http://www.freewebs.com/nrlym/
otherwise check out http://www.irfca.org,
especially http://www.irfca.org/faq/faq-museum.html
(link added 10th October 2011).
There are three major museums:
New Delhi - http://www.nrmindia.com/
(active 23rd August 2017))
See also this unofficial sites http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Heritage
(added 14th April 2008)
Mysore - see http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Heritage
(the latter added 14th April 2008)
Rewari - http://www.rewaristeamloco.com link broken 5th
April 2019
Minor museums are known to exist too:
Bhavnagar - this museum opened on 11th March 2019, among exhibits are
narrow gauge B class 558 and Cowans Sheldon metre gauge steam crane 11268. (19th March 2019)
Gurgaon - this newly established museum has acquired two
industrial broad gauge locomotives from Rotas industries in Bihar (23rd
August 2017)
Howrah - see http://www.irfca.org/gallery/Heritage
Nagpur - see http://railwaysofraj.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html
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 http://www.icf.indianrailways.gov.in/works/rrm_new/index.html
(added 7th June 2015, but link dead by October 2017)
Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) - Click
here for pictures from Harry Liddle (added 25th January 2012)
Tinsukia (Assam) - a new heritage centre is being established here (6th
April 2010), initial exhibits will include a mg Garratt (from Guwahati) and
diesel, together with cosmetically restored B 781 from Tipong which had been
no more than a hulk for many years.
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!
This is the official IR list as of 6th November 2017.
| Railway |
Location of Rail Museum/Heritage Gallery etc. |
| Central Railway (2) |
Heritage Gallery at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus |
|
Rail Museum at Lonavala ( Under Development) |
| Eastern Railway (4) |
Rail Museums |
|
i) RRM/Howrah |
|
ii) Gitanjali Rail Museum, near Bolpur Railway Station |
|
iii) Ravindra Rail Museum, Howrah (Under Development) |
|
Heritage Gallery |
|
ER HQ/Kolkata |
| East Central Railway (1) |
Heritage Park is being developed at Dhanbad Station. |
| East Coast Railway (1) |
Central Library-cum-Heritage Centre at Rail Sadan, ECoR HQ Building,
Bhubneswar. |
| Northern Railway (3) |
National Rail Museum, New Delhi |
|
Baba Bhalku Rail Museum/ Shimla |
|
Heritage Park Gallery at Rewari |
| North Eastern. Railway (2) |
i) Rail Museum at Gorakhpur |
|
ii) Rail Museum-cum-Heritage Park at NER HQ, Gorakhpur |
| Northeast Frontier Railway (4) |
Bhanu Bhakt Rail Museum at Ghum Station/Katihar Division |
|
Heritage Park at New Tinsukia (Tinsukia Division) |
|
Heritage Gallery at Sukna Station(Katihar Division) |
|
Rail Museum at Cooch Behar Station |
| North Central Railway (1) |
Heritage gallery, showcasing the history and heritage of Gwalior Light Railway at the Area Manager, Gwalior Office |
| North Western. Railway (3) |
i) Jodhpur workshop – Heritage Model Room |
|
ii) Ajmer Loco Workshop – Heritage Model Room |
|
iii) Bikana Heritage Rail Museum, Bikaner |
| Southern Railway(3) |
Regional Rail Museum, ICF, Chennai |
|
Metupalayam Rail Museum, Salem Division |
|
Rail Museum at Trichy. |
| South Central Rly.(1) |
Heritage Museum at Rail Nilayam premises, Secunderabad |
| South Eastern Rly.(1) |
Rail Museum/Heritage Building (VIRASAT BHAWAN) near South Institute at Adra |
| South East Central Rly (2) |
i) Narrow Gauge Rail Museum Kamptee Toad, Kadbi Chowk,
Motibagh, Nagpur. |
|
ii) Rail Museum (Dharohar Sangrahalaya) at Nainpur Railway Station. |
| South Western Rly.(1) |
Regional Rail Museum at K.R.S. Road, Mysore |
| Western Railway(6) |
Rail Museum |
|
Rail Museum at Pratpnagar Railway Institute/Vadodara Division |
|
Heritage Gallery at National Academy of Indian Railways (NAIR) |
|
Heritage Gallery |
|
i) At HQ Office building |
|
ii) On Platform No. at Rajkot Station |
|
iii) At Ahmedabad Station |
|
Heritage Park |
|
Near Dabhoi Railway Station /Vadodara Division |
| West Central Rly.(1) |
Heritage Park within Wagon Repair Shop/Kota |
| Metro Railway /Kolkata (1) |
Heritage Room at Dum Dum Car Depot Complex/Noapara |
Indonesia
There are two railway museums on Java, that at Ambarawa operates occasional
private special trains up the rack railway. See the unofficial site
(updated 6th October 2014), the museum had been closed for some time for
rehabilitation but has now reopened. For a look at the new Ambarawa, take a
look at Damar Ananggadipa's report (8th
January 2015), he has now followed it up with notes
and a comprehensive set of pictures showing the major changes made (13th
August 2015)..
That in Jakarta is 100% static. See the unofficial site.
A new (railway and mining heritage) museum is being established at
Sawahlunto in West Sumatra, until recently a major coal mine. E1060 has been
returned from Ambarawa as an operating exhibit (added 30th November 2008)
Iran
The country's first railway museum has opened in Mashhad,
the major exhibits include Cowans Sheldon Steam Crane 6875. For a brief
introduction see http://ip.parstoday.com/iran-i119831 (Link dead by May 2023) (4th April 2018).
Israel
See http://www.rail.co.il/EN/Fun/Museum/Pages/default.aspx.
Japan (Minor
update 4th April 2019)
James Waite's visit to Japan (link below with links to further reports) spurred me to research
these properly.
For an excellent English language summary of railway museums in Japan visit
http://homepage3.nifty.com/EF57/museum/E-museum2.htm (link
dead October 2017),
there are far too many small museums to list here. The site has detailed
information on Japanese steam in general, http://homepage3.nifty.com/EF57/index.html
(link dead October 2017).
There is a national railway museum at Omiya / Saitams in the northern outskirts of Tokyo
which is not actually the major steam locomotive site (see Umekoji below), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Museum_(Saitama)
and http://www.railway-museum.jp/en/.
For more information on the exhibits check out http://homepage3.nifty.com/EF57/r.museum/TP-flame.html
(link dead October 2017).
See also a report from James Waite's April 2015 visit (14th May 2015).
Also in Tokyo, the Ome Railway
Park, an open air museum in the north western outskirts of the city, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ome_Railway_Park
and http://www.japaneserailwaysociety.com/jrs/members/naito/ome/ome.htm.
Also the Tobu Transport Museum, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobu_Museum
The Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum in Kyoto is Japan's largest, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umekoji_Steam_Locomotive_Museum.
It's history is described in detail here, http://homepage3.nifty.com/EF57/museum/e-ume/Um-flame.html
(link dead October 2017).
It had been closed for some time for redevelopment but reopened at the end of
April 2016. James Waite was there a week later and his
photoreport shows a most impressive attraction (19th June 2016).
The Meiji Village museum in Nagoya, while not strictly a railway museum has
an operating steam railway, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meiji-mura
and http://www.meijimura.com/english/,
see also James Waite's report (14th May
2015).
There are references on the web to the Modern Transportation Museum in
Osaka, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Transportation_Museum.
However, this closed in December 2014 and major exhibits were moved to
Umekoji (above).
Gianfrancesco Capoferri visited the small museum at Saga Torokko, Kyoto on
the Sagano Scenic Railway and has sent some
pictures of the steam exhibits (13th February 2016, extra
picture added 4th April 2019).
Jordan
There are occasional private steam charters.
Malaysia
Part of the old station at Johor Bahru has been converted into a small
railway museum. Exhibits include Pacific 564.36 'Temerloh' and a 1919 Cowan's
Sheldon hand crane (4th August 2012). Pictures of exhibits can be found by
starting with this
picture of 564.36 (thanks to Thomas Kautzor for this, 6th February
2013).
The old shed at Tumpat appears to have museum status, I don't have full
details of what is there but it includes a Cowan's
Sheldon steam crane.
The North Borneo Railway operates regular steam out of Kota Kinabalu in
Sabah. See www.northborneorailway.com.my. The
state museum in Kota Kinabalu has steam locomotives exhibited, as does the
national museum in Kuala Lumpur.
Mongolia
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. Torsten Schneider has provided more information
and some pictures (extra picture, 22nd December 2009). For instructions on access, see Colin
Martindale's 2009 report (17th December 2009). John Middleton has provided
a comprehensive set of pictures (27th
November 2014).
Myanmar
There have been occasional private steam
charters, as of December 2008, these were at best suspended or worst finished.
Nepal
There are very occasional private steam charters.
Pakistan
There is a museum near Rawalpindi. See the Pakistan Railways website http://www.pakrail.com
but by 27th March 2012 all mention of the museum had been removed!.
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.
Philippines
Karel Brouwers writes (4th June 2010):
"I was reading the report by Thomas Kautzor
on the Philippine railway situation in 2007. I am happy to report that
since then efforts have been underway to preserve the equipment here
and establish a Philippine National Railroad museum.. This effort has
been undertaken by the Railway and Industrial Heritage Society of the
Philippines with assistance from the PNR. You might like to take a peek
at our new web site, http://www.rihspi.org/ link broken 5th
April 2019.
We have restored Buda car # 22 that was mentioned by Mr. Kautzor and it
is now on display in the main Station in Tutoban which is no longer
unused and is occupied by the Management of the PNR. The other railcar
mentioned is Buda 21. We have that one in a member's warehouse in safe
keeping. This year the hope of the society is that we will finally get
our workshop and some exhibition space for the engines here. Plans are
to restore and operate the locomotives again. Yes it is not real
working steam but we will be able to recreate period trains as there
are several still existing freight wagons..."
Saudi Arabia (23rd
September 2018)
The area around the old Hedjaz Railway station at Medina /
Madinah has been converted into a museum, exhibits include two steam
locomotives one of them restored to serviceable status. Mike Gibby visited
in 2018 and sent me a photo report (23rd
September 2018).
South
Korea
Several reports on the web describe briefly a
railway museum at Seoul Station opened in 1987 (3rd December 2008) but a 2008
blog reports it as being near derelict, I cannot trace any mention of steam
locomotives being present here.
There is a further railway museum at Uiwang, it has steam locomotives present. http://www.steamlocomotive.info
lists quite a few preserved steam locomotives in the country but does not
mention this location although it reports steam locomotives at Bugok, which I
believe is the
former name of Uiwang station. A restored relic of the Korean war
(apparently a 4-8-2) is displayed at Imjingak Park, Paju (added 10th January
2009) - see the link below.
John Middleton was in South Korea in January 2012 and his
report includes the railway museum at Uiwang and a list of known preserved
steam locomotives (3rd August 2012). I have now (11th January 2014) added
pictures from Bill Pugsley of the locomotives at Imjingak and Jeju.
Sri Lanka
As of 27th December 2014, there is a National Railway Museum at Kadugannawa,
west of Peradenya. It doesn't have a website, but you can probably work
out quite a lot by looking at the
pictures here, For opening hours etc see the brief
Wikipedia entry (all this 16th October 2015)..
There are occasional private steam charters. A new museum in Colombo opened
in May 2009 - see http://www.railwaymuseum.lk
(link dead by 21st October 2013).
Keith Smith was in here
in September 2009, quite where it stands now the NRM is open at Kadugannawa
(above), I don't know.
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.
Thomas Kautzor has forwarded some pictures and
information from Ernst Hallas on the works at Cadem which have, in effect,
become a museum (24th December 2008). Mark Enderby was here in October 2010 and has provided a
list of steam locomotives present (6th November 2010).
Taiwan
There is a museum at Miaoli, there are some
pictures at the time it was set up, which include a then active Hitachi
steam crane (24th March 2013). There are plans
to convert the old steam shed at Changhua into a
national railway museum.
Thailand
Now that most trains use the new station at Bang Sue, Bangkok's Hualampong
station is being turned into a railway museum. Trevor Heath has sent me a
picture (7th September 2021) which shows a number
of restored exhibits but with no sign of people present, it is unclear whether
it has yet 'opened for business'.
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'. For
preserved steam locomotives in the country check
this list.
There is a small private museum in Bangkok, in the park north of the
'Weekend Market', see my report, also several
exhibits outside the National Science Exhibition
Centre at Ekkemai in Bangkok..
Turkey
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.
However, it is now under threat of closure owing to lack of money - see Alan
Castle's full report (updated 17th June 2011). Some time back, Keith Smith supplied some pictures of the Camlik
museum (1st October 2008), now I have added a
more complete selection from Clive Hepworth (19th
October 2013). No-one has reported lately, but TripAdvisor
makes it clear that it is still open as of .May 2015 (12th May 2015).
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). Richard Foster has added
an update (29th January 2010) which indicates
that narrow gauge steam will soon be running in the heart of Istanbul. Thomas
Kautzor visited the museum in April 2016 and reports
on further progress in this world class attraction (21st May 2016).
There is a railway museum in Ankara, see http://www.trainsofturkey.com/w/pmwiki.php/RailwayMuseums/AnkaraMuseums
which includes among its exhibits 10 rusty steam locomotives in an open air
park (3rd December 2008), the museum at Eskişehir http://www.trainsofturkey.com/w/pmwiki.php/RailwayMuseums/EskisehirMuseum
has no steam locomotive but has a plinthed 0-6-0T nearby (3rd December 2008).
Uzbekistan
See Torsten Schneider's pictures of the Tashkent
Railway Museum and a further set
from Colin Young (extra picture, 22nd December 2009). For instructions on access,
see Colin
Martindale's 2009 report (17th December 2009). John Gordon visited in
September 2016 and found things much
as before (21st September 2016).