The Railway Museum

The Railway Museum is the new museum of JR East which opened at Omiya, Saitama prefecture, in 2007.

The Tokyo Transportation Museum used to be the first stop on any railway visit to Japan, but it closed and the railway exhibits were moved to the new out of centre museum.

Location

From Omiya station catch the Saitama Shintoshi Kotsu New Shuttle to the first stop Tetsudo Hakubutsukan station where the museum is located. Walk along the under-line passage to the museum entrance.

List of Rolling Stock

The following locomotives are on display:
No 1, 7101 Benkei, 1292 Zenko, 9856, C51-5, C57-135, DD13-1, ED17-1, ED40-10, EF55-1, EF58-89, EF66-11, ED75-775
Plus various railcars, wagons and carriages (including shinkansen).

Other Facilities

In addition there are drive-yourself and mini-trains, exhibits, a shop and cafe.
Current mainline stock demonstration line.
Observation deck of shinkansen, shuttle and main lines.

South building opened in 2018, with "job stations" (such as ticketing, control, engineering), simulators and history displays.

Opening

Open 10:00-18:00. Closed Tuesdays and new year. Entry fee (2018) 1300 yen.

Web Sites

Wikipedia web page

Museum Website (Japanese)

Pictures

There was a report in Japanese Railway Society magazine Bullet-In 64.