Museu Nacional Ferroviário, Central Portugal, Portugal

5JamesAmaze 5:00 PM Dec 14, 2019

Brilliant museum
This museum is so well planned, starting with a 2 minute screen display of the increases in speed of trains over 2 centuries. The layout of exhibits is ordered and easy to understand. Descriptions in most cases are in English, as well, of course, in Portuguese. There is lots to see and touch. The exhibition then goes outside to a fantastic collection of steam locomotives grouped around an original and still working turntable. There are about 10 locos, massive units from the mid C19 to the mid C20. There's the chance to view the Royal Train, and walk inside the Presidential Carriage. I spent 3 hours there, smiling all the time. All the guides are friendly and speak English, and a special thank you to Tomas, who is almost as good as the world's best tour guide, James A, at Chelsea Football Club. A great museum to visit.

4cubsur 5:00 PM Oct 14, 2015

A must for rail enthusiasts
The recently re-opened National Rail museum has a superb collection of static exhibits large and small to satisfy any rail enthusiast. It is in two sections, a modern dispay of small items and a large collection of locomotives, carriages and various equipment stored in the old locomotive shed and the former carriage and wagon works. Most of the larger displays are described in English and Portuguese, some of the smaller panels and displays are only in Portuguese. Staff are enthusiastic and admit they must improve their English - almost all the visitors while I was there were English other than a small group of retired Portuguese railwaymen. Admission for adults is 5 Euros. Officially there are small group tours every hour, but it was quiet when I was so staff were very accommodating. One feature is that to get from the first display to the larger stuff it's necessary to cross a working rail line, so an escort is needed! The museum is right next to Entrocamento rail station, just over an hour from Lisbon by fast train. Signage needs to be improved at the station, I mentioned this. Access is direct from the station, but not possible for anyone who cannot manage stairs. Just go to the white footbridge, up the steps, turn left and go to the very end. Turn left and the entrance to the museum is to the left at the bottom of the last stairs. I did not see any car park. It's open to the public from 1pm to 6pm, last admission for the whole site 4pm. Closed on Mondays, Jan 1st, Easter Sunday, May 1st and December 25th. They do large group visits by prior booking. Also, for any railfan, a couple of hours at Entroncamento station would be well spent, before and after a museum visit. The white footbridge spans the whole station site and offers excellent views of trains coming and going. Trains of all shapes and sizes pass through, including passenger trains, long freight trains of containers or coal, engineering trains, mysterious locomotives moving here and there, plus strange yellow trains used for repair and maintenance.