The Kyoto Railway Museum (京都鉄道博物館, Kyōto Tetsudō Hakubutsukan) (formerly the Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum (梅小路蒸気機関車館, Umekōji Jōkikikansha-kan) until 2016) is a railway museum in Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The original Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum opened in 1972, but was expanded and modernized in 2016, becoming the Kyoto Railway Museum.

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Kyoto Railway Museum

京都鉄道博物館
The museum entrance in October 2016
Location of the museum Show map of Kyoto city Kyoto Railway Museum (Japan) Show map of Japan
Former name	Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum
Established	October 10, 1972 (1972-10-10) (as Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum) April 29, 2016 (2016-04-29) (as Kyoto Railway Museum)
Location	Shimogyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Coordinates	34°59′14″N 135°44′33″E
Type	Railway museum
Owner	JR West
Public transit access	Umekōji-Kyōtonishi Station, JR West Sagano Line
Nearest car park	Umekoji Park
Website	www.kyotorailwaymuseum.jp/en/

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The museum is owned by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and is operated by Transportation Culture Promotion Foundation.

The museum is divided into the following exhibition areas, including the 20-track roundhouse built in 1914.

• Promenade
• Main Hall
• Twilight Plaza
• Roundhouse
• Former Nijō Station

• The Promenade area in May 2016

As of April 2016^[update] a total of 53 rolling stock items are on display at the museum.^[3][1]

As early as 1967 plans were being made to make the round-house at Umekoji depot, Kyoto into a live museum where good-order examples of Japanese steam locomotives could be displayed and also steamed and run. The Opening-eve ceremony was held on October 9th 1972 from 1:00 p.m. At the beginning, JNR president Mr. Isozaki planted a memorial young black pine tree. The opening ceremony was conducted in front of the Symbol-Zone. The ceremony invited the Kyoto prefectural governor, Kyoto city mayor, and successive Umekoji depot directors, and one hundred and thirty other celebrities as well as eighty JNR members. After the JNR president's congratulatory speech, the naming ceremony was done. It was named "The Umekoji Steam Locomotive Museum (Umekoji Jyoki Kikansha Kan)." The dedicated monument embodied the driving wheel from a C57 88 (Retired at 1st May 1972). There is an original English epitaph on the monument, as follows;

May the glory of steam locomotives over the past century be remembered and their gallant sight preserved here forever.
10 October 1972 Japan National Railways.

At the end of the ceremony, a special ceremonial train was run by the C62 2. The museum was opened by Japanese National Railways (JNR) on October 10, 1972 commemorating the centennial of the railway in Japan.^[4] When JNR was divided into regional companies in 1987, the museum was inherited by JR West.

The museum is approximately 3 minutes on foot from Umekōji-Kyōtonishi Station.

• JR East Railway Museum, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture
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