Railway Museums in Europe

Within my chosen geographical area which excludes North America, most of Europe and Japan, the occurrence of genuine railway museums as opposed to the odd preserved steam locomotive or tourist railway is quite rare. Here you will find a list of known links which describe those I either know about through personal experience or through submissions to my website or which have been located by web searches. Some are no more than (steam) locomotive parks, others have barely a steam locomotive to be seen. It will be a useful quick check list for readers making short visits. I have also included a note of known steam tourist operations where appropriate for Africa, Asia and parts of South America, the latter are covered in more detail in the relevant continent page. By and large the links are to pages which are in English, although these days a web-based automatic translation will normally produce something good enough to get started during a visit.... Please email me with additions and corrections to the address at the end, include a sensible and appropriate subject line to help avoid vanishing into the spam filter.

There are certain umbrella organisations whose sites may be helpful, particularly IATM (International Association of Transport and communications Museums) - see http://www.iatm.org/finished/start_klein.php - railways are necessarily a small sub group. Others are regional and are noted as appropriate.

Another recommended link - http://www.innvista.com/culture/travel/rail/mindex.htm - as of September 2007 it was last updated in February 2007 and less complete than this site for non-mainstream areas, but necessarily it may be updated, but it will be a good source for the USA, Canada, Australasia and Western Europe.

As always Wikipedia is worth a look but when I checked this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_railway_museums it had far fewer entries in my areas than are on this page.

This page covers railway museums in the Americas, either scroll down the page or click on a continent for a further menu.

Europe (mainly non-mainstream)

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 http://www.heritagerailways.com/world.html (English only) 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).

Bulgaria

The National Museum of Transport and Communication is at Rousse, see http://www.museums.hit.bg/ which has some English content.

Croatia

There is a railway museum in Zagreb, see the unofficial site http://www.mytrains.at/eisenbahnmuseum_zagreb.htm which is in German. As of November 2008, the museum had serious staff problems and was not always open as advertised - advanced notice of an intended visit using the contact in the link below is strongly advised (in English!). Information on the museum is within http://www.hznet.hr/ (Croatian Railways), when I visited you had to click the "izdvojeno button", then click the "kultura" button at the bottom then click on "muzej" for contact details. The actual page address was http://www.hznet.hr/iSite3/Default.aspx?sec=197 but that sort of address is never very stable. Even allowing for it being in Serbo-Croat this has got to be one of the worst designed railway websites I have ever seen - I only found the page by accessing the site map ("mapa weba").

James Waite reports on his attempted visit which includes an access map.

Czech Republic

The Czech railway museum is at Lužné (Luzna), see http://www.os.cd.cz/muzeum/ which has some English content. For an English language introduction see http://www.czechtourism.com/133premier/en/cd/en/memories/memo055.htm. See also the report of James Waite's visit (7th January 2009)

Denmark

The Danish Railway Museum is in Odense, see www.jernbanemuseum.dk/GB/index_gb.html. 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).

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, see www.rautatie.org/web/en/start.asp. 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)..

Greece

There is a railway museum in Athens see http://www.greece-museums.com/museum/29/ and there seems to be an embryonic railway museum in Thessaloniki - see http://www.greece-museums.com/museum/95/. There is also an open air museum at Kalamata, see http://www.greece-museums.com/museum/48/ and http://www.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=3499. Keith Smith reported on his visit to Thessalonika (18th October 2007).

Holland

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).

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://eurospotter.fotopic.net/c727745.html and http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/hu/museum/Fusti/steam/pix.html. See also Colin Young's pictures on this site (27th December 2008).

Italy

 The Italian national railway museum in Naples 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).

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).

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/index-eng.htm. Click here for a report on a visit here from James Waite (updated 25th July 2009).

Lithuania

There is a railway museum in Vilnius, see http://muziejai.mch.mii.lt/Vilnius/Gelezinkeliu_muziejus.en.htm 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..  

Norway

The national railway museums is in Hamar, see http://www.norway.com/directories/d_company.asp?id=9230. 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).

Poland

There is a railway museum at Chabówka, see http://www.parowozy.pl/steamtrains/. Colin Young has sent some pictures of his visit in June 2008, (added 24th December 2008).

There is a narrow gauge railway museum at Wenecja - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrow_Gauge_Railway_Museum_in_Wenecja and the Polish language official site http://www.paluki.pl/mzp/kolejka.php. (added 21st June 2008). 

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)

Miroslav Karas tells me there is a railway museum at Kościerzyna in the north of the country - see http://parowozownia_koscierzyna.republika.pl/ (Polish language) (added 25th July 2009)

I believe there is a railway museum also at Koscierzyna but I know little of it - in case it was reported closed in January 2009 owing to a cash shortage (added 6th March 2009).

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).

I would appreciate the help of an expert in cataloguing museum steam in Poland...

Portugal

There is a museum at Santarem, about 40 miles north of Lisbon and a (new) National Railway Museum at Entroncamento  See James Waite's excellent report from January 2009 (added 6th March 2009). James has also visited the narrow gauge museum at Lousado (link added to exisiting report, 11th April 2009).

Romania

There is a railway museum in North Bucharest, for pictures see http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/ro/steam/misc/pix.html. There is also a steam railway museum in Sibiu see http://www.enzia.com/Pages/Railpg6.html.

Russia  (updated 11th November 2009)

For the indoor museum in St. Petersburg, see www.museum.ru/Museum/RAILWAY/museng.htm or http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/central-railway-museum.asp. However, for most enthusiasts it is the outdoor museum which is 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.

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 now sent some pictures (updated 26th August 2009), note that this is now officially 'closed' but access may still be possible. 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 http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/russia11.htm (added 11th August 2009).

There is a railway museum in Nizhni Novgorod (Gorky) see http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/russia13.htm (added 22nd August 2009) which also has an (occasionally steam operated) children's railway - link added 11th August 2009).

There is a railway museum in Rostov-on-Don see http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/trains/russia16.htm (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.

Serbia

There is a narrow gauge railway and museum at Mokra Gora, see this page for basic information - http://www.zlatibor.co.yu/voz/english/--%20sarganska8%20--.htm. 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).

There is a railway museum in Belgrade, see the official site http://www.yurail.co.yu/eng/kultura/muzej.htm and this 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

The Slovakia Transport Museum - http://www.mdc.sk/Page/10005/stm_muzeum_dopravy.html 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 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).

Spain

For information on the Madrid Railway Museum and links to websites for others, check out James Waite's notes (25th September 2007). 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).

Sweden

The national railway museum has two sites Gävle, Gästrikland and Ängelholm, see http://www.banverket.se/en-gb/Swedish-Railway-Museum/Huvudrubriker/About-Banverket-Telenet.aspx. 

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. 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). Keith Smith has supplied some pictures of the Camlik museum (1st October 2008). 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).

Ukraine

There is railway museum at Donetsk see http://www.donetskplus.com/portal/profile.do?profileID=1016677. 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.