Museum / Trackside Classic: The Railway Museum at Ōmiya

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– Posted on November 11, 2024

If rail transport is almost a religion in Japan, and it most certainly is, then this is the equivalent of Mecca or the Vatican. Over thirty railway cars, locomotives, or other rolling stock, from imported steam engines to the latest bullet train, can be seen in a compound of various buildings and sidings. Jim Klein, his son Riley and yours truly wandered through this veritable Aladdin’s shed of all-Nippon rail last month and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think it deserves a wider audience.

I did my best to try and photograph placards that accompanied most exhibits, so I’ll transcribe what I can from those. But don’t expect anything more – my knowledge of trains is …er… subway-level.

I don’t think I got the placards for the previous exhibit, which was an ancient (and unrestored?) early 1900s railcar, nor this one. As I recall, we have a six-seater hand-car here. Must have been quite a job pushing that thing about.

Locomotive number 1 was imported from England to be used on the very first tracks laid in Japan, the Tokyo to Yokohama line. It was in service from 1872 to 1911.

Nicknamed “Zenko,” this Mannin-Wardle 0-6-0 locomotive was in service until 1923.

The island of Hokkaido got their first trains in 1880. The locomotives used were a batch of eight made in Pennsylvania, of which this was the first to be put in use. Service lasted until 1915.

If you were to board a train in Hokkaido in the late 19th Century, the luxury carriage would have been one of these. Very American-looking, just like the locomotive.

Cutaways are cool, but 3-D cutaways are downright awesome! The loco is a 1912 Henschel und Sohn, originally made in the Hessian city of Kassel.

Japanese-made locomotives eventually took over completely by the early 20th Century, of course. This C 51 Class machine is a good example of an early design. It was in service between 1919 and 1962.

That Class C 51 loco bears a gold chrysanthemum – the Imperial emblem – as it’s pulling the Emperor’s train. It’s all behind glass, so obviously we’re not allowed in.

Here’s another glimpse into old style first-class travel. This long-haul / sightseeing saloon car was made in 1930.

Third class urban commuter cars were a bit less swanky, of course.

Historic machine here: this Class C57 locomotive, made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1940, was the last steam engine to haul a passenger train in Japan in 1975. Some Japanese steam engines were used for a few years longer, such as the ones on Sakhaline Island or in mainland China.

But it wasn’t all about steam, far from it. Quite a lot of rather bland, but hard-working and long-lived commuter rail car were on display. This electric Kumoha-40 was made circa 1935 and served the Tokyo area until the mid-‘80s.

For non-electrified lines, the likes of the Kiha 41300 Diesel railcars was used from the mid-‘30s to the late ‘80s. These were made by Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

Early postwar designs, like this 1956 Kiha 11 Diesel railcar, looked pretty much the same, to my (utterly untrained) eye…

Back to the electric stuff with a Kumoha 101. These were made in great numbers between 1957 and 1969 and served until the early naughties. Love that “Mid-Century Industrial Green” cabin colour.

Two EF58 electric locomotives were on display. These were made between 1947 and 1958 and used on mainlines as electrification became more and more widespread. This particular one was assigned to haul the Imperial train, a duty it performed until the early part of the present century.

The second EF58 features cool sun visors. These were made by Hitachi Heavy industries.

The coolest-looking electric loco was probably this EF55, put in circulation in the mid-‘30s and used until about 1965. Looks like something straight out of a Tintin book. Or a Miyazaki animé.

The EF66 locomotive, ladies and gentlemen. Used between 1968 and the mid-2010s. More brutal than the ‘30s streamliner, but equally characterful.

Before the bullet train network really grew, long-distance electric trains looked like this Kuha 181 – which is to say, pretty awesome. The JNR logo is a masterpiece of graphic design. But we can also visit the interior of this one, so let’s go in and take a seat.

Nice and clean, as you’d expect, with extra cooling courtesy of Toshiba.

Here’s what the top looks like. I’m guessing those are the AC units in the middle of the roof there. These trains entered service in 1958 and were in service until the mid-‘80s.

The Kuha 183 series took over mainline duties from the 181 gradually from 1972 onward. The last units were taken off service just five years ago.

I’m not sure they have sleeper cars any more in this country, but here’s one from the mid-‘60s on a Series 20 “Blue Train”. These were last in service in 1997.

Japanese railways’ number one claim to fame has to be the bullet train, known here as the Shinkansen. This is the first iteration, the 0 Series, came out in 1964, but planning for this remarkable achievement (and the coining of the term Shinkansen) went back to 1940.

The 0 Series were withdrawn in 2008, but the layout is still the same in present-day Shinkansen. They don’t have the water fountains any longer, unfortunately. If you’re thirsty these days, you have to pay.

But if you need to spend a penny, that’s free. Yes, there are pissoirs on bullet trains – still have them to this day, in fact. Not a bad idea.

The number two / unisex option would have been more challenging, at least to most Westerners. This and the design of the washbasin may be the two most dated aspects of this train.

The Series 200 Shinkansen, introduced in 1982 and in service until 2013, was an evolution of the original design, but for use in colder and snowier climates, such as the west coast of Honshu (e.g. Niigata, Nagano, etc.) and Hokkaido. Max speed: 240kph, even in a blizzard.

There were at least two simulators at the museum. One was a steam engine simulator (you actually had to shovel mock coal in the firebox, too!), and one had you at the controls of the latest generation bullet train.

Plenty of other displays reviewed the history of rail in general and of Japanese railways in particular, but there was also a small room, kind of out of the way, where a myriad of old train-related bits and pieces were just amassed in no particular order. These two plaques, which used to be affixed on the nose of the trains, were found there. Made me think of Subaru and Toyota, for some reason.

There were a few other railcars outside, most of which could be used as picnic areas. There were also two miniature railways: one inside that was actually miniature, and one outside where kids could ride on. This curmudgeonly Diesel locomotive seemed to rule over this open-air part of the museum…

That’s pretty much it, in a post-length nutshell – or rather, that’s the extent of the photos that were decent enough to be posted. Sometimes, the low lighting made for some pretty lousy results, picture-wise. But I highly recommend this museum, if you’re in the area. Great place to spend a few hours in and lose your train of thought.