From the dawn of railways, there have been people fascinated with the technology of trains, their design and the engineering feats that made rail travel possible in difficult terrain. Today many people travel far and wide to see or ride specific trains and lines or to visit museums.
Understand
[edit]Since the age of steam power, railways have been about more than just transporting goods and people from one place to another. The puffing of the earliest steam locomotives captivated the cities and towns wherever it arrived and today the sheer power of freight trains, the elegance and streamlined sleekness of modern high speed rail or the modern marvels of engineering that are train stations, bridges, tunnels or marshaling yards are a sight to behold and a reason for tourism all in itself. You don't have to be an enthusiast listing numbers and dates of train sightings in a book to appreciate the beauty and fascination that is rail travel and everything associated with it. Railways themselves often were boosters of tourism. After a line had been built, its owners would extol the beauty of the places it served and the speed with which one could get there by rail to attract more riders and some railroad tourism advertisements have become iconic. These days, railroads continue to extol the natural beauty of the landscapes traversed or the cities served even if the speed is nothing to write home about or limit themselves to short snappy "A to B in x amount of time" advertisements when they know they are the fastest option there is.
See
[edit]Stations
[edit]Station buildings can be impressive landmarks that are appreciated by architecture buffs as well as railway enthusiasts. They often represent the styles and tastes of their time of origin – spanning over one and a half centuries and include "bourgeois cathedrals" of the late 19th and early 20th century as well as hyper-modern "glass palaces" of the renaissance of rail travel (and railways) since the beginning of the 21st century. One of the most striking examples of the latter is perhaps Berlin 1 Hauptbahnhof in Germany, which was built for the 2006 soccer World Cup, and 1 Kanazawa Station in Japan. Unfortunately, stations built in the period from the start of World War II to the end of the 20th century tend to be rather dull affairs, perhaps symbolising the prevailing mindset of the period that rail travel was antiquated, and private car ownership and air travel was the way forward.
- 2 Bailey Yard, North Platte, Nebraska. The world's largest freight railway yard. The 3 Golden Spike Tower offers a panoramic view over the goings-on.
- 4 Maschen Marshalling Yard (Rangierbahnhof Maschen), Maschen, Lower Saxony south of Hamburg. Maschen, which also hosts the Maschen Autobahn junction (A7, A1 and A39) is the biggest freight rail hub in Europe. Built in the 1970s, it serves the traffic from the North Sea ports to the industrial centers of Europe, from the Nordic countries to the German heartland and freight throughout Europe. Its size is only surpassed globally by the Bailey Yard mentioned above.
- 5 Tehachapi Loop, Kern County, California. A marvel of late 19th-century engineering, this loop allows heavy freight trains to climb the steep grade by crossing over itself. This loop is very busy with freight to this day and has been a favorite for railfans for decades.
- 6 Tanggula Station (唐古拉站). With a height of 5,068 m (16,627 ft) the station is the highest railway station as of March 2020. Only accessible through train services, and trains may make brief stops at the station, in which you are not allowed to leave the train due to extreme height.
- 7 Qinglongqiao Station (青龙桥站). A historic station on the Beijing–Zhangjiakou railway that serves as a switchback station, also lies the tomb of Zhan Tianyou, the chief designer of the railway.
Museums
[edit]Europe
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- 8 Çamlık Train Museum (Çamlık Tren Müzesi), Çamlık village, south of Selçuk, Turkey. Centered on an abandoned station on a former alignment of the country's oldest rail line, Çamlık's steam engine collection is one of the largest in Europe. Made up by locomotives produced in various countries, the collection also includes the locomotive that was pulling an Orient Express service involved in the deadliest rail accident in Turkey, in 1957. In addition to the locomotives, miscellaneous railway items, such as a turntable and a watertower, are also in display. In the museum grounds, nicely landscaped with palm trees, there is also a restaurant.
- 9 Finnish Railway Museum (Hyvinkää). Steam locomotives were kept in Finland until the 1990s as a reserve for the case of oil imports being affected by a crises (Finland had a long border with the Soviet Union during the cold war and delicate relationships with both sides). Thus there was ample rolling stock left when the historical interest was awakened. The museum was founded already in 1898 and among the cars on display are three cars of the Finnish train of the Russian emperor and the car of the president of Finland, while the oldest locomotive is from 1868. A few tours are made in summer on the mainline railways. There is a 1:8 railway on the museum premises.
- 10 Germany Transportation Museum (Verkehrsmuseum), Nuremberg ( U2 U3 stop Opernhaus). This museum contains two collection the DB Museum (museum of the national railway) and the Museum for Communication. The railway museum displays the development of railways in Germany from the beginnings in 1835 — when the first railway connecting Nuremberg and Fürth opened — to today (with even a short look to the future of rail transport). It has a collection of historic stock and a large model railroad. Its children's areas makes it a good place to visit for families. The captions to items in the museum are only available in German though.
- 11 UK National Railway Museum, York, nrm@nrm.org.uk. The largest railway museum in the world, responsible for the conservation and interpretation of the British national collection of historically significant railway vehicles and other artefacts. Contains an unrivalled collection of locomotives, rolling stock, railway equipment, documents and records.
- 12 STEAM Museum, Swindon, STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway. Fire Fly Avenue (off Kemble Drive). Swindon. SN2 2EY, communications@swindon.gov.uk.. STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway tells the story of the men and women who built, operated and travelled on the Great Western Railway, engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
- 13 German Steam Locomotive Museum (Deutsches Dampflokomotiv-Museum), Neuenmarkt, Germany, info@dampflokmuseum.de. The museum is close to the schiefe Ebene (inclined plane), one of the first rail lines with a significant incline (up to 25 permille) that trains had to climb without any outside help - quite a challenge for 19th-century steam engines.
- 14 Latvian Railway History Museum, Riga/Pārdaugava. Exhibits Soviet rolling stock — the largest collection of broad-gauge vehicles in the Baltics.
Americas
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- 15 Toronto Railway Museum, Toronto, Canada. A huge central area (including the CN Tower and Skydome) was once railway land. Park exhibits (outdoors, free) include a roundhouse and turntable, coaling tower, water tower, signal tower, small railway station and several railway cars and locomotives including a 4-8-4 Northern-type steam locomotive. A museum in the roundhouse building has railway exhibits, cars under restoration and a souvenir shop. Miniature steam trains sometimes run in the park, with tickets issued from the old Don Station building.
- 16 Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario, Smiths Falls, Canada. Museum in former Canadian Northern Railway station, built 1912 on what was once a rail line to Napanee. The tracks were removed in the early 1980s, but the historic station and bridge across the Rideau Canal remain. Sleeper bunks may be rented overnight in a pair of 1940s wooden Canadian Pacific cabooses (weekends only, June-August).
- 17 Harvey House Museum, Belen, New Mexico, USA. Public library and museum covering Harvey House, railroad and US Southwest history. Belen's Harvey House (1910-1939) used to house a lunch room and first-class dining room; the Harvey Girls, dorm mother and office manager lived upstairs.
- 18 Illinois Railway Museum, Union, Illinois, USA. The largest railway museum in the United States
- 19 Jackson Street Roundhouse, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. An old railroad roundhouse where historic locomotives and rolling stock come for restoration and maintenance. Also offers train rides.
- 20 Historic RailPark & Train Museum, Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA. Historic railpark, guided rail car tours and self-guided museum. Of the 90 railway post office (RPO) cars on the L&N, two survive; one is here, the other is at the Steamtown National Historic Site in Pennsylvania.
- 21 Martinsburg Roundhouse, Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA. Three B&O Rail shop buildings on 13 acres include a historic 1866 cast iron frame Baltimore and Ohio Railroad roundhouse, burned by "Stonewall" Jackson’s Civil War troops in 1862, quickly rebuilt and in service until 1988. On 1,000 feet (300 m) of the Tuscarora Creek, site of the first National Labor Strike of 1877.
- 22 National Museum of Transportation, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Train and trolley rides, guided tours, boxcar boutique. Rail and transit collections encompass more than 190 major exhibits, ranging from an 1833 Boston & Providence Railroad passenger coach and the largest successful steam locomotive ever built to a 6,600-hp, two-engine Union Pacific diesel #6944 (“Centennial”) built in 1971.
- 23 Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, 10501 Reservoir Road, Jamestown (California), USA. Original depot, headquarters, and roundhouse of the Sierra Railway, built in 1897 to carry passengers, mining ore and logs by steam train. Tour the roundhouse, climb aboard historic rail cars and locomotives, ride a steam train on summer weekends.
- 24 Steamtown National Historic Site, 350 Cliff St, Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA, toll-free: +1-888-693-9391. The former rail yards of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, in use since 1851, include a selection of steam-era buildings. Part of the original Locomotive Shop (1865), a portion of the second Roundhouse (1902/1917/1937) and the Sand Tower (1912) remain, along with a large collection of locomotives and rolling stock from the heyday of steam railroading.
- 25 [dead link] Western America Railroad Museum, in Harvey House Railroad Depot, 685 North First St, Barstow, California, USA, ☏ +1 760 256-WARM (9276). The former Casa del Desierto railside hotel (1911) houses an active Amtrak station, a visitor center, the Western America Railroad Museum and the Route 66 Mother Road Museum. The once-famous Fred Harvey Company was an early chain (1876) which operated Harvey House restaurants (and later hotels) in railroad-owned buildings on behalf of the Santa Fe line. These wayside eateries pre-dated the deployment of dining cars on the train; in their heyday, at least one Harvey House appeared railside each hundred miles all the way from Chicago to California. Of 84 Harvey Houses constructed from 1876-1930, perhaps a half-dozen survive in some form. Indoor displays include artefacts, artwork, timetables, tools and uniforms; outdoor displays of rolling stock, locomotives and equipment include maintenance of way, signal and track equipment displayed in context.
- 26 Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, 110 Federal Park Road, Gallitzin, Pennsylvania, USA.
- 27 Oregon Rail Heritage Center.
- 28 California State Railroad Museum, 125 I St, Sacramento, California, USA. A huge museum of railroad history with a large collection of old yet well-preserved trains and equipment. If possible, take Amtrak to the Sacramento station to get into a trainy mood for it. The museum also features a large majestic model train layout on the 3rd floor in 3-rail O-scale.
- 29 Lake Superior Railroad Museum, 506 W. Michigan St, Duluth, Minnesota, USA. On the bottom floor of The Depot, Duluth's rather grand old train station. Has an extensive collection, mostly of locomotives and train cars that served the local area, including a massive 2-8-8-4 "Yellowstone" locomotive that used to haul huge iron ore trains. The North Shore Scenic Railroad excursion trains along the lake shore. The upper floors of the building display art and anthropological exhibits on the local Native American cultures and European immigration.
- 30 Museo Ferrocarrilero (Parque Temático Tres Centurias), Avenida 28 de Agosto Sn, Barrio de la Estación, Aguascalientes, Ags, México, ☏ +52 449 994-2761. Old Railway Station Museum in former 1911 station (Estación del Ferrocarril) in "Three Centuries" railway complex. The park also houses old railway workshops, an engine room, dining room, extensive gardens, local radio/TV and a cultural centre.
- 31 Museo del Ferrocarril "Jesús García Corona" (Train Museum), Manuel José Othón 0, Centro Historico, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, ☏ +52 444 814 3589. Comprehensive train museum in an opulent art deco railroad station. Signage is all in Spanish but English-speaking guides are often available. Visit on a weekday when train rides are offered.
- 32 Museo de los Ferrocarrileros (Mexico City Railroad Museum), Entrance to La Villa-Guadalupe Metro, La Villa. Historical railroad museum focusing on the late 19th and early 20th century. Interesting collection of locomotives and rolling stock including the Sin Fuego, a pressure steam locomotive built by Davenport Locomotive Works.
Asia
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- 33 Ambarawa Railway Museum (Museum Kereta Api Ambarawa), Jalan Setasiun No.1, Ambarawa, Indonesia, ☏ +62 298 591035. A railway museum, exhibiting many old locomotives, carriages, and other train paraphernalia. Before its current use as a museum, the station was decommissioned in the 1970s. It is possible to get a ticket for a diesel train trip to the nearby station in Tuntang on weekends, through which visitors can see the vast rice fields of Ambarawa, and the panoramic view of Lake Rawapening and Mount Merbabu, Telomoyo, and Ungaran.
- 34 China Railway Museum (中国铁道博物馆), 1, N. Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang, Beijing. The largest rail museum in China, hosts a variety of historically-significant locomotives and retired trains.
- 35 Kunming North Station and Yunnan Railway Museum (昆明北站/云南铁路博物馆). The terminal station of Kunming-Hekou meter-gauge railway, and you may find active meter-gauge passenger and freight service. (Note that however, the international train service from Kunming to Hanoi is indefinitely suspended.) Adjacent to the station is a railway museum that features meter-gauge rail vehicles used on this railway line.
- 36 Hong Kong Railway Museum, 13 Shung Tak Street, Tai Po Market, Tai Po, ☏ +852 2653 3455, hkrm@lcsd.gov.hk. Mon Wed-Sun 10AM-6PM. An open-air museum converted from the old Tai Po Railway Station. Closing is 1 hour earlier (5PM) on Christmas Eve and Lunar New Year's Eve. Closed on Tuesdays (except public holidays) and first two days of Lunar New Year. Rail vehicle exhibitions are limited, and the museum exhibits more about railway equipment and the museum itself. Free.
- 37 Tokyo Metro Museum (地下鉄博物館), 6-3-1, Higashi-kasai, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, ☏ +81-03-3878-5011. 10AM-4PM (closed on Mondays, public holidays and new year). A museum containing collections from Tokyo Metro (former Eidan (営団), and note that not the Toei (都営) Metro). Collections include old metro trains cars, old turnstiles, and 3 driver simulators for different lines. ¥220 for adults, ¥100 for children.
Australia
[edit]- 38 Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre, 12 Braidwood Rd, Goulburn, New South Wales. A working roundhouse incorporating heritage rail locomotives (both steam and diesel) with displays on the history of the railway in Goulburn.
- 39 Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre, 1 Telford Ave, Peterborough (South Australia), fax: +61 8 8651-2173. Peterborough was once a vast rail operation, a crossroads on former narrow-gauge lines with a hundred steam locomotives daily heading to all corners of Australia. Many of the lines were re-gauged or closed; a heritage railway line which ran north in the late 1970s was abandoned in 2002 and dismantled in 2008. The sheds and heritage-listed roundhouse were preserved as a static museum with locomotives and carriages.
- 40 National Railway Museum, Port Adelaide, fax: +61 8 8341-1690. Australia's largest railway museum, with a collection of historical locomotives that were used throughout Australia on all three main gauges.