The “Linear & Railway Museum” opened on March 14, 2011, in Kinjo Pier, Minato-ku, Nagoya City.

The museum exhibits 39 actual rolling stock from the JR Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train and other conventional lines to superconducting linear trains. Another major attraction of the facility is that visitors can learn about the history and mechanics of railroads through hands-on experiences, such as the Superconducting Linear Exhibition Hall, where visitors can simulate speeds of 500 km/h, and a full-scale driving simulator.

In this issue, we will tell you about the highlights of the Linear & Railway Museum.

Access & Admission Fees

The Linear & Railway Museum is located in Kinjofuto, Minato-ku, Nagoya City. Riding 24 minutes from Nagoya Station to Kinjo-Futo Station on the Aonami Line, the museum is about a 2-minute walk from the station.

First, purchase an admission ticket at the reception desk!

＜Admission Fees＞
Adults:  1,000 yen
Elementary to High School Students:  500 yen
3 years old and up:  200 yen

After purchasing your ticket, it’s time to go inside.
Exciting! It looks like an actual boarding gate.

Symbol of High Speed Rail

From left: Type C62 steam locomotive, Type 955 Shinkansen test train, and MLX01-1 superconducting linear train

The first three symbolic vehicles that appear as you pass through the entrance are the three cars that have all recorded the world’s highest speeds.

From left, “Type C62 Steam Locomotive,” the largest and fastest steam locomotive in Japan. The “Type 955 Shinkansen Test Train,” a test train developed by JR Tokai to pursue the latest and best high-speed rail system for the Shinkansen. The “MLX01-1 Superconducting Linear Train,” which recorded the world’s highest speed of 581 km/h at that time on the Yamanashi Linear Test Line.

The actual vehicle is more impressive than you can imagine!

You can even go inside the superconducting linear train.

Exhibition Area for Vehicles of Past Generations

Next, let’s go to the “Rolling Stock Exhibit” area. In this exhibit area, you will see the “0 Series,” “100 Series,” and “300 Series,” as well as the familiar “700 Series,” the mainstay of the Tokaido Shinkansen, and other cars of the past, such as the “ED11” and “MOHA1” models.

There are also rare cars that can only be seen here!

Successive generations of Shinkansen. The tips are getting sharper and sharper with time.

The “Shinkansen Type 922 Electric Track Testing Car,” popularly known as “Doctor Yellow,” has many big fans. It is a Shinkansen train for business use that inspects overhead wires, signals, and tracks while running in order to maintain safe operation of the Shinkansen.

Since the operation dates are not announced, it is even said that Doctor Yellow brings happiness to those who see it. If you see it, it may bring you a good luck!

This is the old-fashioned “Series 0”, the lead car of the same type as the Series 0 used since the Tokaido Shinkansen started service in 1964. Some people may think of the “Kodama” when it comes to the Tokaido Shinkansen Series 0.

Visitors can enter each of the cars on display. Nowadays, reclining seats are the standard, but at that time, most of the cars had convertible cross seats, in which the backrests moved back and forth.

A cold water dispenser and paper cups were installed in the deck area at the front of the train. Before the widespread use of PET bottled beverages, many trains, both standard and green cars, were equipped with this feature.

This was a revolutionary idea for an era when buying water was not a common practice.

If the driver’s cab is open to the public, you can take a memorial photo with your child wearing the uniform. After deciding on a costume, take a photo in the driver’s cab!

It will be a nostalgic experience for adults and a joyful one for children.

Photography is free of charge, but if you would like to use the “photo service,” in which the photos are placed in a special mount and given to you, the fee is 1,100 yen per photo including tax, or 1,600 yen per set including tax for a set with a commemorative card.

Please try to keep them as a memory of your visit to the museum.

In fact, many people are unaware of the existence of dining cars. In the Showa period (1926-1989), many trains in Japan had dining cars connected to them.

It is unthinkable nowadays to have a cafeteria in a train car, isn’t it?

The Series 0-36 model was the first dining car to offer authentic meals. 100 Series dining cars were operated by four companies: Nihon Shokudo, Imperial Hotel, Miyako Hotel, and Buffet Tokyo. The tablecloths and other decorations as well as the menus offered by each company differed.
The menu of those days was reproduced, and it is quite extravagant.

There is a very wide variety on the menu!