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The Kyoto Railway Museum, being developed on a 30,000 square meter site, exhibits a total of 53 retired locomotives and train cars; it inherited from the former Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum, which was on the same site. 

The original Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum opened in 1972, but was expanded and modernized in 2016, becoming the Kyoto Railway Museum.

Inside the museum in addition to 53 railway vehicles, you will find a giant railway diorama, steam locomotive rides, and a train operating simulator.
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Kyoto Railway Museum Entrance

​From Steam Locomotives to more recent Electric Trains and Shinkansen, the full range of Japan’s railway history is on display in the 1st floor’s main exhibition area. 

Examples of these historically valuable railway vehicles would be the 500 Series Shinkansen that made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for reaching speeds of 300 km per hour, and the C62 steam locomotive, boasting to be the largest in its class.

On the second floor there are a variety of interactive exhibitions where visitors can perform the duties of a train conductor or drive a train simulator, just like the ones that real train drivers use to learn how to drive. 
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Kyoto Railway Museum Main Building

​The main highlight of the 3rd floor is the Sky Terrace; a roof top garden and viewing deck that offers nice views of the passing trains along the nearby JR and Shinkansen rail lines. 

The museum has plentiful seating and break areas inside and outside. Railway station style bento box lunches are on sale and can be eaten in these rest areas. 

Next to the main building lies a massive roundhouse built in 1914. This has 20 tracks surrounding a turntable, and holds 15 steam locomotives dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries. 
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Kyoto Railway Museum Roundhouse

Close by the roundhouse is the boarding area for steam train rides. For an additional fee of 300 yen, you can take a one kilometer journey that lasts around ten minutes. 

At the museum's exit stands the Nijo Station Building that was known as the oldest wooden depot in service in Japan, relocated from nearby Nijo Station in 1997. The building houses the museum’s shop.

The Museum is one of Japan's three great Railway Museums alongside the Railway Museum in Saitama and JR Central's SCMAGLEV and Railway Park in Nagoya.
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Nijo Station Building

Kyoto Railway Museum Access

Kyoto Railway Museum is located west of Kyoto Station at the far end of Umekoji Park. It can be reached in a 20 minutes’ walk from the Station. 

Bus – From Stand B3 in the center of Kyoto Station bus terminal take bus number 86, 88, 103, 104, or 110 "takes about 10 minutes". 
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C61 2 Steam Locomotive

Kyoto Railway Museum - Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto Prefecture