Uganda Railway Museum
Uganda's first railway museum, located in the city of Jinja in the Eastern Region, inaugurated in April 2022.
| Uganda Railway Museum | |
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| Image credit to CCFU | |
| Type: | Railway Museum |
| Inauguration: | 2022 |
| Country: |  |
The Uganda Railway Museum is a museum located in Jinja. It is the first museum in Uganda dedicated to the history of railroads and the second in East Africa, after the Railway Museum in Nairobi.[1]
History
The reason for the establishment of the museum was to preserve the heritage of the Ugandan railway network, as well as the collection of information on how these railways influenced the social and economic development of the country, as well as the history since colonial times of transportation, and how the connections of these railways affected the relations between neighboring countries such as Tanzania and Kenya. The establishment of the museum received support from the Ugandan Department of Museums and Monuments.[2] In December 2020, an exhibition of artifacts and photographs of the country's railways was held at the national museum in Kampala, among the artifacts on display included communication equipment used by Uganda Railway staff in the 1970s. The exhibits were collected by the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda, Aliguma Ahabyona, who is part of the organization, said the exhibition was to encourage and promote the idea of creating a museum dedicated to railways in Uganda.[3] The museum was founded by the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda in collaboration with the country's Railway Cooperation, the European Union and SOGEA-SATOM also funded the project.[1] Caroline Adriaensen, part of the European Union delegation to Uganda, said the museum fulfills the role of showing how the railways impacted the lives of Ugandans.[3] The museum is located in one of the oldest train stations in Uganda. The museum opened for the first time on March 16, 2022.[5]
Collections
The CCFU organization has collected various artifacts from different
train stations and lines around the country, including a ticketing
cupboard, telephony instruments and lamps.[2] The museum contains collections of photographs as well as screening of railways film recollections. In addition, the museum contains a passenger coach and old locomotive among its exhibits.[5]
Gallery
 Image Credit to Bruce Agaba |
Communication equipment used by Uganda Railways staff |
 Image Credit to Jonathan Kyetume |
An eletric train token in one of the museum's exhibits. The rackets had the purpose of transmitting messages from one train station to another, they were used by train conductors, and also had the purpose of signaling if the line was all clear. |
References
Jones, Amelia (2022-03-17) "Uganda opens its first-ever Railway Museum" - NewsInvasion24
Musinguzi, Bamuturaki (2021-02-07) "Railway museum to bring back memories of wheels of steel" - Monitor
"Uganda railway museum will showcase its grand past" (2020-12-21) - The Independent
"Uganda Railway Museum officially open to public" (2022-03-18) - Vanguard News
Musinguzi, Bamuturaki (2022-03-30) "Uganda opens Railway Museum" - The EastAfrican
