Locomotives on display at Umekoji

[miyakoji]

Here are two good videos of an open day sort of event at Umekoji.  Ayokoi's video features a still image of an informational panel with some English before showing the engine itself.  Karibajct's video has some scenes inside the roundhouse, filmed from on top of something about as tall as a locomotive or tender, it's an interesting view of the interior.

 

by ayokoi

 

by karibajct

[wazzd]

There is a raised viewing platform inside the roundhouse, that's where the shot was from....and yes it is a good place to shoot from, and shows thoughtfulness on the part of the museum too. I hope next time I'm there C62 2 will be in steam! Thanks for sharing.

[kvp]

Now this is a cool museum. As far as i read, they are merging it with another museum from osaka by 2016. Considering that museum also has some working trains and even have an almost full set of 0 series shinkansen, there is a very good chance that they will be running trains in the future too. I wish i could go and visit these museums.

[The Next Station Is...]

The weather in the videos is so much nicer than when I went to it. The great thing is that it's not too far from Kyoto Station and if I remember correctly you can see trains on the main line going by.

 

I'm going to have to dig out my photos and have a reminisce! (although it was only 2011 when I visited)

 

 

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[westfalen]

I first visited Umekoji in 1990.

 

I've always thought of it as what a steam locomotive museum should be like with the locos displayed in their natural setting. The first time I was there they were working on one of the working locos in one of the roundhouse stalls and with one of the other locos in steam all the sights, smells and sounds of a working steam depot made it feel like you has stepped back in time rather than into a musem.

[cteno4]

Really looks fantastic. Beautiful presentation.

 

Jeff

[keitaro]

ahh maybe the steamers from bentencho in osaka are going there was talking to vjm about this the other week. Ones running for sure there and still sitting polished and clean in the shed. walked past it the other day.

[bikkuri bahn]

I reckon the rolling stock including the C62 and D51 (which is the second in the series, so historically significant, also being a namekuji type) which are currently outside in the shed at Bentencho will be moved to a newly built replica of the Kyoto trainshed adjacent to the Umekoji roundhouse.  Actually I'm more keen on the 80 series emu and the kiha 80 "lions head" being preserved.

[wazzd]

I visited in 2009, something I had wanted to do since about 1975! I remember feeling the smile come to my face when I walked into the roundhouse, it looked right and the aroma of coal smoke and oil reminded me of Broadmeadow in N.S.W. Having a Loco in steam everyday makes all the difference. Last year I only saw the smoke and the top of the Loco as we sped past on the train, next year I intend on returning. There was an Artists impression of what the new Museum will look like in the March 2013 issue of Rail Magazine (page 118) Seeing the video of C62 2 on the turntable is great...how can anyone not be impressed?

 

[Densha]

Some article I came across about the Umekoji steam locomotive museum with some nice pics of a line-up of 13 steam locos:

http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASH1B5699H1BPQIP00P.html

 

I don't know if this has been mentioned somewhere before, but I found this info on wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umekoji_Steam_Locomotive_Museum#Expansion_plan):

On 19 December 2012, JR West officially announced its plans to open a new railway museum next to the Umekoji museum, which will be unified with the existing museum facilities. It was announced on 18 December 2013 that the new name will be known as the Kyoto Railway Museum (京都鉄道博物館 Kyōto Tetsudō Hakubutsukan?). The museum is to be expanded with the addition of two new large exhibition halls adjacent to the existing roundhouse, opening in spring 2016. The new building will be three-storied, with total floor space of 18,800 square meters. The construction cost was announced to be 7.0 billion yen. The new museum is due to house approximately 50 railway vehicles, including 23 steam locomotives, six shinkansen vehicles, four electric locomotives, and four diesel locomotives. The new museum will also have driving simulators of both commuter lines and Shinkansen lines, boarding experience of operating steam locomotives, operation of miniature trains and railroads.

After the expansion, the new unified museum will have exhibit space covering 31,000 square meters. It will be the largest railway museum in Japan in both terms of floor space and the number of trains exhibited, surpassing JR East's Railway Museum in Saitama and JR Central's SCMaglev and Railway Park in Nagoya.

The expansion became necessary due to the aging facilities of the Modern Transportation Museum in Osaka. The Modern Transportation Museum is scheduled to close on 6 April 2014, and the exhibits housed there will subsequently be moved to the new railway museum in Kyoto.

 

[katoftw]

The weather in the videos is so much nicer than when I went to it. The great thing is that it's not too far from Kyoto Station and if I remember correctly you can see trains on the main line going by.

 

I'm going to have to dig out my photos and have a reminisce! (although it was only 2011 when I visited)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Correct.  It is wedged between the main line to Tokaido Main Line, a freight depot and the Sanin Main Line.

 

Where the steam loco departs the boarding platform and goes under a bridge, that is the Sanin Main Line.

[E6系]

I first visited Umekoji in 1990.

 

I've always thought of it as what a steam locomotive museum should be like with the locos displayed in their natural setting. The first time I was there they were working on one of the working locos in one of the roundhouse stalls and with one of the other locos in steam all the sights, smells and sounds of a working steam depot made it feel like you has stepped back in time rather than into a musem.

 

Hello Mr westfalen,

 

Actually, it is what a steam museum should smell like !!!