The choice of countries is arbitrary and is restricted to those in the
eastern part and Scandinavia, most countries in Western Europe have
preserved steam operations and national railway museums with official websites
which are easily located using search engines, those further east are less well
known.... This list is not by any means inclusive of smaller sites, some of
which are operational, for lists which includes many European Museum sites see
European Federation of Museum & Tourist Railways http://www.fedecrail.org/en/index_en.html
and http://www.innvista.com/culture/travel/rail/museuro.htm
(various languages). If you are prepared to spend some time browsing then the
pictures on this site will take you to many preservation sites - http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix_frameset.html.
Belarus
There are railway museums in Brest (opened in 2002, closed Mondays and
Tuesdays, best visited in the morning) and Baranovichi (opened
in 1999, apparently closed Sundays), see http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/by/steam/pix.html
for some good pictures. These appear to be major collections.... Torsten
Schneider has sent a (nearly complete) list of the steam
locomotives at Brest and several pictures (30th November 2008).
Belgium
At long last Belgium is to get a national railway museum
at Schaerbeek -
the source of this news for me at least being the unlikely
Washington Post and Wall
Street Journal (Link dead by May 2023) newspapers. (1st April 2013). You can read a shorter and
more boring confirmation here http://www.brusselsmuseums.be/en/museum/69-museum-of-belgian-railways.
Historically SNCB has had a very bad name among enthusiasts, now is their
chance to put things to rights.
Bulgaria
The National Museum of Transport and Communication is at Rousse.
Croatia
There is a railway museum in Zagreb, see the unofficial site http://www.mytrains.at/eisenbahnmuseum_zagreb.htm
(link broken July 2020) which is in German. As of November 2008, the museum had serious
staff problems and was not always open as advertised.
The museum's website as of May 2015 is
http://muzej.hzinfra.hr/.
James Waite reports on his
attempted 2008 visit which includes an access map. He has since been back
and a full report is available (29th Mar 2011).
Clive Hepworth visited in May 2015 (27th May
2015).
Cyprus
The island's railway museum finally opened its doors in
late 2014. For more information see the
combined report from James Waite, Ken Jones and Gyula Marosi (8th
September 2015). It has no locomotives.
Czech Republic
The Czech railway museum is at Lužné (Luzna), see http://www.os.cd.cz/muzeum/
- link dead by July 2020.which has some English content. For an English language introduction
see
http://www.czechtourism.com/133premier/en/cd/en/memories/memo055.htm
(link is dead).
See also the
report of James Waite's visit (7th January 2009).
Chris Yapp visited Luzna in August 2011, also the lesser Narodni Technicke Muzeum in Prague
and the small museum at Knezeves on the Kolesovice branch line - read
his report (26th August 2011). Chris paid a second visit in October 2011 for
its end-of-season in event and reports on it (24th
October 2011)
Chris Cairns visited these museums in August 2012 and his
report updates the above (13th August 2012).
Denmark
The Danish Railway Museum is in Odense, see www.jernbanemuseum.dk.
There is a small narrow gauge museum at the Hedelands Railway, http:// www.ibk.dk,
James Waite was here
in May 2008.
Estonia
The main Railway Museum is in Haapsalu, see http://www.jaam.ee/index.php?lk=25.
(limited English information, but link dead by October 2017). I have now uploaded a
page with basic information and a set of pictures from Dmitry Kolesnikov
(29th May 2013). For more pictures see those from Marco van Uden http://www.railfaneurope.net/ns/Baltic/pix.html
(Link broken by May 2023) (14th August 2014).
See also http://www.museumrailway.ee/
which is a preserved narrow gauge railway as opposed to a traditional museum. James
Waite was
here in July 2009 (25th July 2009).
Finland
The Finnish Railway Museum is at Hyvinkää, a good English language resource is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Railway_Museum
(noted as having expanded coverage 17th April 2013). Harvey
Smith has produced a feature on the country
which includes Hyvinkää's international collection of 19th century steam
locomotives.
Germany
There are numerous railway museums in the country
which I don't attempt to list. Exceptionally, you can read about James
Waite's June 2009 visit to the Frankfurter Feldbahn Museum
(added 21st June 2009) which has links to further reports up to May 2015.
Greece
I have now been told (15th April 2019) by Thomas Kautzor that the Athens
Museum will move to the old SPAP roundhouse in Pireaus-Lefka on 8th May 2019 and
the information below will therefore be out-of-date. A first hand account for
this site would be welcome.
There is a railway museum in Athens see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Museum_of_Athens
(30th June 2012) and there is an embryonic railway museum in Thessaloniki - see http://www.sfsth.gr/
Link dead by May 2023) (which is for the
friends of the museum including contact information, 30th
June 2012). The
Wikipedia entry states it is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays between 10.00
and 13.00 and photographic permission must be arranged in advance.
There
is also an open air museum at Kalamata, see http://www.greece-museums.com/museum/48/
(link is dead) and http://www.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=3499 (link is dead).
Hungary
The 'Hungarian Railway Historical Park' is a museum based on the site of the former Budapest North locoshed. For a range
of pictures of the steam locomotive exhibits, see http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/hu/museum/Fusti/steam/pix.html. See
also Colin Young's pictures on this site (27th December 2008).
Not strictly a museum, but equally fascinating is the Istvántelek Train Yard
which contains numerous decaying relics of the 'Red Star Era', for more
information see http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/istvantelek-train-yard.
Thanks to Tom Schulz for this one (22nd January 2017).
Italy (updated
19th/20th September 2018)
There is a railway museum in Trieste (website http://www.museoferroviariotrieste.it/), with
8 steam locomotives, for
a nice set of 2009 pictures with data, see http://andrewstransport.smugmug.com/Italiantrains/Trieste-railway-museum-2009/21155416_4mLDGQ#!i=1683253129&k=5zfs2K5
(1st April 2014). Clive Hepworth visited in May 2015 and has provided an
illustrated report (7th June 2015).
The Italian national railway museum in Naples (http://www.museopietrarsa.it/content/pietrarsa/en.html)
is open (again) at long
last. James Waite visited
in January 2008 (28th February 2008), Keith Smith has also been here and
fills in a few gaps (23rd April 2009). Don Heron was here in September 2018
and advises the locomotives have all been given a repaint and look splendid
(20th September 2018).
There is also a national transport museum at La Spezia with rail exhibits
(including steam locomotives) - see http://www.museonazionaletrasporti.it/
(added 21st June 2008).
The Deposito Rotabili Storici di Pistoia is home to many preserved
FS steam
locomotives. It serves both as the Fondazione FS's heritage restoration
and servicing depot for central Italy and also as a base for the
Italvapore club which owns several ex-FS
locos. There is an annual open day, usually in the Autumn, and
occasional
special events but it needs a special arrangement to visit otherwise.
James
Waite did this on 15th June 2015, you can see what
he found (20th June 2015).
Jonathan Sussams points out (19th September 2018) that South of Turin in the town of Savigliano
is the Piedmont Railway Museum: http://www.museoferroviariopiemontese.it.
By train, it takes 50 minutes to get from Milan to Turin and a further 50 minutes to get to Savigliano. The main collection of varied locomotives is housed around a turntable and there is a lot more in need of
restoration in the adjoining sidings. The main building houses memorabilia and a large model railway layout.
See also some existing information on this site.
There is a narrow gauge museum at Monserrato on the outskirts of Cagliari in
Sardinia, James Waite has
provided a short guide (2nd August 2009).
See also the
notes from Stefano Paolini (added 15th August 2008) and his Regional
Guide to Italian Heritage Steam (21st August 2008).
Latvia
There are railway museums in Riga and Jelgava, see http://www.railwaymuseum.lv. Click
here for a report on a visit here from James Waite (updated 26th September
2014).
Lithuania
There is a railway museum in Vilnius, see
http://muziejai.mch.mii.lt/Vilnius/Gelezinkeliu_muziejus.en.htm
(link is dead) and a narrow gauge museum which is part of the at
Anyksciai station on the Panevezys-Anyksciai-Rubikiai preserved
railway,
see James Waite's
report of a July 2007 visit. For more pictures see those from Marco van Uden http://www.railfaneurope.net/ns/Baltic/pix.html
(14th August 2014). Gerry Roff reports (26th September 2014) that there
is now
an external museum (since 2011) in addition to that above the station.
It
includes Kriegslok TE3 52-013 and a representative collection of diesel
locomotives, track maintenance vehicles and multiple units. A narrow
gauge permanent way trolley is also available for visitors to operate
up and down a section of track.
On the opposite side of the main line, facing the external museum
exhibits, L class 2-10-0 no 0236 is
plinthed.
Netherlands (updated
11th October 2011)
For a list of Dutch Railway Museums, further information and links see http://www.railmusea.nl
(11th October 2011)
James Waite has been to the railway museum at Utrecht, parts of it are
excellent but for me the most interesting exhibit (CC5022 from Indonesia) is almost invisible!
You can read
his report (added 26th January 2008). Robert Hall has added a couple of
footnotes from his 2011 visit (15th August 2011). Phil Barnes has subsequently
supplied a picture of a Marshall portable
engine (71123/1918, 5th November 2018).
Norway
The national railway museums is in Hamar. The
official website http://www.norsk-jernbanemuseum.no/
is still 100% in Norwegian and not very well developed. See James Waite's excellent
report from June 2008 (added 21st June 2008), also his follow up 'Behind
the Scenes' report (3rd October 2010).
Poland (updated
21st October 2011)
There is a railway museum at Chabówka, see http://www.parowozy.pl/steamtrains/.(Link
dead by May 2023).
Colin Young has sent some
pictures of his visit in June 2008, (added 24th December 2008). There is
an Industry and Railway Museum in Jaworzyna Slaska (added 25th
August 2011). The railway museum at
Koscierzyna was reported closed in
January 2009 owing to a cash shortage, it is open again - year round - as a
division of the regional museums (25th August 2011). See http://parowozownia_koscierzyna.republika.pl/
(Link dead by May 2023). Polish language sites but readily translatable.
These three are regional railway museums as are the open air
displays at Elk (more a collection of derelicts) and Wolsztyn. For a 2009 comment on the
situation in Polish museums read this - http://polishrail.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/rotten-railway-heritage/
- not a great deal will have changed since (Link dead by May 2023) (21st October 2011).
There is a major railway museum in Warsaw,
just across the road from Warszawa Ochota suburban train station (added 30th
November 2008) - http://www.muzeumkolejnictwa.waw.pl/
(Polish language)
PSMK collection in Skierniewice, formally not a museum and opened to public only on certain occasions, but very
interesting - (added 25th August 2011)
There are narrow gauge railway museums at
There are many pictures of the steam
locomotives in the museum collections on this page http://www.muzeumkolejnictwa.waw.pl/?dzial=artykul&id=128
(added 30th November 2008).
Complete lists (in Polish) of preserved steam locomotives in Poland may be found at:
http://www.holdys.pl/tomi/index.php (Link dead by May
2023) (standard gauge)http://www.holdys.pl/tomi/index.php (Link dead by May
2023) (narrow gauge)
Portugal
There was a small museum at Santarem, about 40 miles north of Lisbon but it
has now closed. See James Waite's excellent
report from January 2009 (added 6th March 2009).
Andrew Naylor
has posted some very nice pictures of the (new) National Railway Museum at
Entroncamento on his Smugmug site - https://andrewstransport.smugmug.com/Portuguese-trains/Entroncamento-railway-museum/
(7th July 2016).
James has also visited the
narrow gauge museum at Lousado (link
added to existing report, 11th April 2009).
A new museum at Bragança opened on
25th April 2019 (See http://ciuhct.org/en/news/new-railway-museum-in-braganca-with-ciuhct-participation).
This was the former northern terminus of the Tua metre gauge line. There is an
on line Portuguese
description of the museum but by its nature it will be ephemeral. (All this
19th July 2019, thanks to James Waite and Thomas Kautzor.)
Romania
There is a railway museum in North Bucharest (193B Calea Grivitel, 5
minutes walk from Nord station), for
pictures see http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ro/steam/misc/pix.html.
Apparently, it had been closed for some time but CRJ 172 reports it to be
open again on Wednesdays to Sundays from 10.00 to 16.00 although it contains
only small exhibits (12th March 2013).
There is also a steam railway museum in Sibiu,
there are severe problems here with seven of the steam locomotives earmarked
for the museum mysteriously sold off at a knock down price over the head of
the curator in February 2013 (12th March 2013, information courtesy of Brian
Garvin).
Russia (updated
1st December 2017)
The big news is that the new Russian Railway Museum in St. Petersburg opened on
1st November 2017, early
indications (30th October 2017) are that it will be a world class museum
and a worthy successor to the very tired old outdoor museum. Harvey Smith
has now produced an illustrated report (1st
December 2017) and a further set of pictures
(25th October 2018).
There is now a railway museum at Yuzno on Sakhalin island, http://rzd-expo.ru/museums/sakhalin_railway_museum_of_history/,
the steam exhibits include a 750mm gauge 0-8-0,. 1067mm gauge D51-22
and a Japanese built snow blower.
Interestingly the panel on the left
contains links to a number of other museums in the country (all these 27th
May 2013):
For the indoor museum in St. Petersburg, see http://www.museum.ru/Museum/RAILWAY/museng.htm
or http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/central-railway-museum.asp.
However, for most enthusiasts it as the old outdoor museum which was the
attraction, but there seem to be few pictures on the web, Harvey Smith has
rectified this with some images taken during his stay
in the city in early 2006, Harvey has also suggested (11th
August 2010) this link - http://www.nevsky-prospekt.com/warsaw.html
(link broken by December 2021).
An August 2013 visitor to the outdoor museum reported both
good news and bad news (14th August 2013). The Lebyazhe Railway Museum Depot
is an obscure and rarely open museum. (16th June 2015).
The Rizhskaya Railway Museum in Moscow
(opened in 2004) does not seem to have an English
language website - Harvey Smith has
now sent a guide to it (updated 8th November 2009). In addition, I found three pictures of exhibits here - http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?city=Moscow&country=Russia.
L-3348 is now reported by Caspar Bielok to be
additional exhibit in working order and used to ferry visitors in and out.
There are pictures of quite a few exhibits on this page - http://www.legendtour.ru/eng/russia/moscow/north-04.shtml, (updated 5th December 2008).
Elsewhere in Moscow, Lenin's funeral train is preserved near Paveletsy Station, it
includes 4-6-0 U-127. Harvey Smith has sent some
pictures (updated 26th August 2009). Harvey reports (8th December 2011)
that the renovated museum has re-opened and that is now a
fully fledged traditional railway museum, just to clarify the above, it
was initially opened to parties only but has been open to the general public
since mid-January 2012, Harvey thoroughly recommends a visit (29th January
2012).
Harvey Smith has also sent information about other
preserved items in Moscow, especially Victory Park (updated 3rd September 2007).
There is a narrow gauge railway and museum at
Pereslavl,
see http://narrow.parovoz.com/pereslavl/main-e.html
and the official site (in Russian) http://kukushka.ru
(added 31st May 2008). James Waite was here in July 2009 - the hospitality
was overwhelming - see his report.
(added 11th August 2009). James returned in June 2012
to see two of the locomotives in steam
(27th June 2012).
There is a railway museum in Nizhni Novgorod (Gorky)
(updated 3rd January 2013 with a link to a Russian language
account of the museum) which also has an
(occasionally steam operated) children's
railway - link added 11th August 2009).
There is a new railway museum in Samara - see http://samara.kp.ru/daily/24589.4/758469/
and http://www.samaraguru.com/what-to-do/museums-and-galleries.html
(31st January 2011, link broken, 1st November 2019). The second link has
pictures of the exhibits including 4 steam locomotives Er-766 80, L-0815,
LV-0268 and P36-0188
- click the 'Read more'
button! Thanks to Harvey Smith for this one.
There is a railway museum in Rostov-on-Don
(more details and pictures, 11th November
2009) which also has a (fairly
regularly steam operated) children's
railway - link added 9th November 2009).
Colin Young has sent a nice
set of pictures of the railway museum at Novosibirsk. For instructions
on access, see Colin
Martindale's 2009 report (17th December 2009).
An old peat railway near Novgorod is being rebuilt as a living museum,
see http://komen-dant.livejournal.com/783205.html
and http://komen-dant.livejournal.com/793580.html
(Russian language, 4th January 2013).
The children's railway at Ekaterinburg has an OK 0-8-T, restored 0-8-0
VP-4-1425 and is working on Gr-318 from Georgia, this system is often
referred to as a narrow gauge museum, but operates through the summer from
May (11th April 2017).
Serbia
(updated 25th June 2014)
There is a narrow gauge railway and museum at Mokra Gora.
Pozega Railway Museum has a collection of narrow gauge steam locomotives
which may one day be sent to Mokra Gora where they would probably be better
taken care of. You can read James
Waite's account of a 2005 visit (added 22nd August 2007). Andrew Naylor
has posted some
2014 pictures which show little change (25th June 2014).
There is a railway museum in Belgrade, this is an unofficial
site http://www.angelfire.com/co3/drustvo/roundhou.htm.
Slovakia
(rewritten 18th November 2009)
It appears there are now effectively two museums of interest in Bratislava:
The original
Bratislava East locomotive depot - http://www.mdc.sk/Page/10021/zeleznicne_muzeum_bratislava.html
and http://www.mdc.sk/Page/10004/slovensky_narodny_zeleznicny_park_bratislava_vychod.html
(both links dead by Octpber 2014).
The Slovakia
Transport Museum - http://www.mdc.sk/
and http://www.muzeumdopravy.com/.
Slovenia
There is a large railway museum in Ljubljana, see www.burger.si/MuzejiInGalerije/ZelezniskiMuzej/index.html,
also for some pictures http://www.mytrains.at/eisenbahnmuseum_ljubljana.htm
(link broken July 2020) and http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/si/museum/pix.html.
James Waite was here in March 2008 and sent me an
illustrated report (added 18th March 2008, amended 8th
November 2009, updated with Clive Hepowth's visit, 27th May 2015).
Spain
For information on the Madrid Railway Museum and links to websites for
others, check out James
Waite's notes (25th September 2007), there is a nice set of pictures from
Andrew Naylor on Smugmug (11th June 2014).
On a related note, there is a
comprehensive list of preserved steam locomotives available on http://www.locomotoravapor.com/
(2nd December 2008), when I looked the English language summary link was broken.
James has since been to the
Rio Tinto system which includes a small museum and an operating system which
very occasionally uses steam (23rd April 2009). James visited the
Asturias Railway Museum at Gijon in July 2012 (updated 8th June 2018)
There is a museum for the
former coal railway at Ponferrada see http://www.museoferrocarril.ponferrada.org/ingles/index.html.
The Basque based Trenak site has a description of the local railway museum
at Azpeitia http://www.trenak.com/2012/01/20/
(24th October 2013. link dead by 29th October 2017)). James Waite visited
in October 2018, the museum also has an operational section of metre gauge
railway (20th October 2018).
There is a small railway museum at Alcazar de San Juan,
Thomas Kautzor was able to record only the outdoor exhibits in December 2015
(20th January 2016). The report also covers other preserved and non-preserved
railway relics in the area.
Sweden
(updated 12th August 2017)
The national railway museum has two sites Gävle, Gästrikland and Ängelholm.
The museum website migrates addresses regularly the latest one noted is http://www.trafikverket.se/Museer/Sveriges-Jarnvagsmuseum-Gavle/.(link
dead by 25th October 2016, (4th August 2012, still valid in June 2015), found on the occasion of
uploading a report from Chris Yapp (4th
August 2012). Neil Edwards attended the museum's 100th birthday celebration on
23rd May 2015, his report includes pictures of
nine centenarians in steam (3rd June 2015) and James Waite's report
of a July 2016. North Sweden visit includes more pictures of exhibits (21st
July 2016).
For basic information about the museum in Ängelholm, see http://www.engelholm.se/Uppleva-gora/Kultur/Museer-gallerier-konst/Sveriges-Jarnvagsmuseum/ (4th
August 2012 but link broken by 1st November 2018))
There is another small museum at Grangesberg, covered in the
same report (4th August 2012).
James Waite visited a series of museums
west and north-west of Stockholm in September 2015 (30th September 2015). This
area was noted for its iron ore workings and ironworks and James has been back
for more exhibits in July 2016 (21st July 2016). Also included in the report
are some plinthed steam locomotives.
James visited the railway museum at Kristiansand
where he was able to access one of the two surviving 3'6" /1067mm gauge
steam locomotives in the country (11th August 2017).
Keith Chambers reported on his visit to Östergötland Railway Museum
(3rd November 2015).
Ukraine
There is railway museum at Donetsk see http://www.donetskplus.com/portal/profile.do?profileID=1016677
(link broken by 1st November 2018),.and
now one at Kyïv-Passazhirskyi, the main railway station in Kiev. Boris Chomenko
has sent some pictures from his June 2012
visit (21st May 2013)
Check out the images descriptions from this page for more ideas on preserved
steam in the Ukraine - http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ua/steam/pix.html.