<< Ankara Museum | Railway Museums in Turkey | İstanbul Sirkeci Museum >>

Eskişehir Railway Museum

Eskişehir is the home town of the oldest and largest locomotive factory in Turkey. This factory is next to TCDD largest depot, which was founded by the CFOA as their main facility. The factory is now operated by Tülomsas and is still one of the largest industrial activity of the city (along with the agri-business, see the cookie factories along the road!).

TCDD as set up a little museum in 1998 to display some of its most interesting pieces and to reflect the railway past of the city. Unfortunately, the museum is quite small and only a (too small) selection of items can be displayed.

Access:

The museum is located next to the TCDD station. When you face Eskişehir station main building, the museum is in a little courtyard, on your left. A large sign indicate the entrance and Nohab Ct 3383 is plinthed in the parking lot near the entrance.

Collection

The museum has an outdoor and an indoor section. The outdoor section has no steam locomotive but there are some interesting items:

• track side signals including a complete semaphore mast
• level crossing gates,
• various trackside signs such as kilometer post.

The indoor section is a series of small rooms. The whole visit will take at most one hour. Entrance is free:

• entrance room: a collection of axlebox and track lifting equipment
• 1st room (to the left): pictures, sets of hand tools and lamps from the steam era
• 2nd room: old ticketing machines, various telegraph machines and typewriters.
• 3rd room (back left corridor): track tools and track related items such as rails cross section. The most interesting items are the switch and track drawings from the CFOA and the SCP. These are displayed on the wall and remind us of the engineering quality of the first railways.
• 4th room: this room has a large HO layout, however the models on display were more Germanic than Turkish. This room has also various old signaling equipment and a clock
• 5th room (back, right corridor): a very nice collection of old stations pictures. Most of TCDD major stations are displayed in their original condition. It displays a few books and few copies of the magazine "Demiryol". Demiryol was published by TCDD from 1951 to 1969, twice a month, but with many monthly "double issue" . Unfortunately, the museum has no library were one could either read the magazine or make copies of it.
• 6th room: large scale models and pictures of the various engines and rolling stock build by the Eskişehir factory.

The outdoor area of Eskisehir Museum, Photo Gökçe Aydin

The HO model layout displayed inside the museum. Photo Gökçe Aydin.