1 November 2026
The worst train museum in Japan
Niitsu railway museum
Laundry day! All my wet and muddy clothes are starting to grow mould so first laundry day had to be brought forward. I made sure that this laundry day which was also a non hiking day was the only non rain day, therefore ensuring that in the future I will get very wet again.
Before going to the coin laundry I first scheduled 2 activities in and around Niigata. A museum and a shrine - which is about all Niigata has to offer other than some fishing boats and a rice cracker factory. First up, the railway museum.
The museum is located in the satellite town of Niitsu, which evidently, used to be the hub of all railway manufacturing in Japan. Even now 3 train lines inexplicably meet there, despite the town predictably being a ghost town. The actual museum is about 2km from the station, along the main road through town that is generally footpath free, and according to google reviews, is the worst railway museum in all of Japan! A bold claim indeed.
After looking at all 2 trains, I headed back to Niigata, walked to a shrine, did surveillance on two coin laundries, returned to my hotel, sloshed my clothes into a bag, and am now once again, fully laundered.
3 train lines meet at Niitsu, and everything nearby is railway themed.
A few weird buildings around here.
The main street, the bit with a footpath. Not a lot going on.
This is not the shrine I went to later... this is the Niitsu shrine, according to the map it is Horide Shrine.
All of the garage doors in front of closed down shops have trains painted on them, a nice touch.
The road to the museum included a river, but not a Korean style drain that I enjoy.
This is the museum! Just this bit. The sky bridge is connected to a gymnasium.
Entry was only $3, and the inside was actually quite well appointed, I suggest the Tokyo Metro museum is not as good as the Niitsu railway museum, so google reviews were wrong.
Bike train on the left is the best train.
These are the only 2 real trains they have, bullet train on the left, steam train on the right.
They have made them all quite hard to photograph from any good angle.
I was happy that you can get into the steam train, there is no view! How did they know when to stop or if they have hit a bear?
The top floor of the museum had what appears to be competitive model railway. They were taking it seriously and are wearing ID badges.
Back on the other side of Niigata now and on my way to the shrine. I think this is the performing arts centre, or a baseball stadium, or both.
I took this photo on my last visit! It is the best angle of the gardens surrounding the shrine.
This is the main shrine, it appears to be dress up day, although the dates on a sign says that runs from August until November.
I tried to stay out of photos with children, and to not photograph any children. Basically anything I do is probably illegal.
Laundry time! I selected this one because it was quieter, but the machine options were not the best, I prefer to dry my clothes on a no heat setting in the big air forced drums, these ones did not allow me to turn the heat off. Later I will find out how much my clothes shrunk.
And finally, the walk back to my hotel along the river, about 1.5km. My hotel has free washer dryer combos, but I loathe those! Walking a 3km round trip and paying was totally worth it, and this is from me, the worlds biggest tight arse.