Kyoto Railway Museum, Kyoto

Castle, park, shrine and temple are my favourite spots. However when you are travelling together with your kids, you just have to insert something is their favourite such as Kyoto Railway Museum. My boy loves train, bus and airplane. This is his heaven!

The Kyoto Railway Museum was opened in April 2016 by JR West on the former site of the Umekoji Train and Locomotive Museum, about a twenty minute walk west of Kyoto Station. It is is one of Japan's three great railway museums alongside JR East's Railway Museum in Saitama and JR Central's SCMAGLEV and Railway Park in Nagoya. The ticket price is as follows:

• General Admission (18 years and older) 1,200 yen
• University and High School Students – 1,000 yen
• Junior High and Elementary School Students – 500 yen
• Children (3 years and older) – 200 yen

Covering three floors on a 30,000 square meter site, the museum exhibits a total of 53 retired trains, from steam locomotives to more recent electric trains and shinkansen. Visitors can also walk underneath and observe the inner workings of a retired freight locomotive. Getting here is not easy as you need to walk 20 minutes to the Kyoto Station. I can't see the bus that is supposed to come here. That's what I failed to do. So in the end, we took an expensive cab ride.

Only a few trains that exhibit here which you could actually enter to visit. This is my first disappointment. I thought visitors can go inside all the trains that are exhibit here.

This is the only cafe where it is opens inside a train. You can experience dining in a train but the train is not moving. I doubt you will have the real experience of dining inside a train. Anyway, the food here is expensive.

There are many miniature things which attracts my son's attention. 

Some trains need to queue up to visit how is it like to maneuver a train. 

We can't really able to take our own sweet time to study the cockpit of a train because we have to leave after taking the picture.

In Japan, there are a lot of railroad crossing like this. It is built for the kids to understand that, they need to stay and wait and shouldn't attempt to cross at until the train has passed by.

From this picture, you can tell that he was enjoying his moment at this large playground of his. He was running around like a wild kids. It was really embarrassing for me because all other kids which are the local Japanese has very well manner.

Yes, there are not many foreigners visiting this museum. I only say a handful of foreigners while the rest are the locals. Actually one of the reason is very simple, which is also my second disappointment. They do not have English language explanation on their description board. They only have Japanese language. So basically I do not know what is exhibited here in this museum because I can't read a single thing. What a waste of time and money to come. For me at least. My son doesn't like to read. He just like to play.

They are demonstration here to teach the kids and explained to the adults about how a train works.

They just can speak a little English but they are unable to explain the whole thing in English. So basically once again, we do not understand what they are trying to explain to us here. For your information, there is an audio guide for rent at 500 yen per unit. The audio guide comes in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. Not sure how much the guide will explain to you.

It makes me have a feeling that this museum is meant for the locals and not the foreigners. I think travelling website should exclude this place out from their list.

But...there are more reasons for the kids to love this place rather than the adults. Because they got to play!

I really sometimes wondering how come he got so much energy. Where does it comes from? You can see the activities the kids can do below.

Talking to a walkie talkie

Pushing and pulling

This one is the one that he spent for the most of his time.

Unfortunately, he was too short for this. Only 120cm and above otherwise the kids cannot cycle it.

The museum displays railway uniforms, tools and an abundance of other appurtenances from past eras and boasts one of Japan's largest dioramas, in which miniature trains are controlled single-handedly by a skilled operator as they traverse the intricately detailed landscape. There are also a variety of interactive exhibitions where visitors can perform the duties of a train conductor or drive a train simulator. The museum's restaurant is on the second floor directly below an observation deck. Both offer nice views of the passing trains along the JR Kyoto Line and Tokaido Shinkansen.

At the second floor there is a real simulator of how to buy a MRT like. You can purchase a real ticket but without the need to insert any real money.

Then pass the ticketing machine just like what you would see at a MRT station. This is a great experience and learning for the kids.

This floor has a cafeteria where you can looking out at the busy trains passing by every minute. 

My son prefers to see these train. He can sit here for 30 minutes until I started to tell him that, "Let's go!".

You buy your food using the machine here and collect the food at the counter. It is very convenient and save manpower.

At the top floor, you have the skydeck over looking at the railway track of the Kyoto Station. Look at these Japanese aunties with their sniper lens. This is something you don't see in Malaysia. 

A panoramic view of the station. You can click on the picture to enlarge.

There is a bus stop right in front of the Kyoto Railway Museum but I do not know where does the bus leading us to. We got no choice again but to take a cab to the MRT station. My son has already dozed off in the car and I have to carry him all the way to this seat. Seems like his energy is depleted the moment he left the museum.

Total Damage: 1200 (adults) and free for my son.
Service: 3/5
Ambiance: 4/5
Cleanliness: 5/5
Recommended?: Yes, only if you have kids travelling with you but be prepared on how troublesome to get to here.

Kankijicho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
Opening hours: 10.00am - 5.30pm (Wednesday closed)
(No admission after 5.00pm)