A Trip Down History Lane - Nairobi Railways Museum

Some days are just better than others, you wake up with a spring on your step and everything seems beautiful! Well, the last time I had this feeling I was on my way to visit a museum I had been planning to visit for some time - The Nairobi Railways Museum and I'm glad I did.

Quite oblivious of how drastically things were about to change,(this was just right before #COVID19 in Kenya) I make my way into Nairobi's Central Business District and quickly realize getting to this museum is a little convoluted—the approach to it is down a curving dirt road, past the outdoor sections of the museum (which are separated from the road by heavy wire mesh), but encouraged by the determination of the spring on my feet I push through the occasional thought wandering into my mind about just how sketchy this looks.

I get past a gate manned by a security guard and I sign into a visitor's registration book, leaving my identification card behind so make sure to have a valid form of identification should you want to experience this hidden gem, and I suggest you do especially if you are curious by nature, love history and basically enjoy learning new things.

As I sign in I breathe a sigh of relief thinking to myself, finally I'm here but the guard tells me I have more dirt road to cover, I nearly collapsed and the guard probably out of doing this frequently encourages me saying I'm not that far off.

So I wend my way along an interesting long wall artistically decorated with a display of graffiti in vibrant colors for a couple of minutes, and to the guard's credit, I'm soon met by the sight of a parade of locomotives perched superbly across the yard.

But saving the yard tour for later I walk past the yard into the main museum building. The museum spreads out across four rooms the first room is the largest, and the most interesting if you ask me. There's a vast range of exhibits, ranging from photographs, survey maps, station masters’ chairs, a track inspector’s bicycle (and a similarly used trolley), lots of memorabilia from the late 1800's and early 1900's.

I found it so interesting learning about the historical background of the laying down of the lunatic as it was so called and why it was called so and the fascinating stories of the infamous Tsavo man-eaters you can watch my guided tour here

Another highlight of this room is the porcelain set used on board a train by Princess Elizabeth when she visited Kenya in 1960 along with her husband Prince Phillip (as many would know, by the time she left Kenya, Prince Philip had put a ring on it making her Queen Elizabeth II), the sofas on which she sat while in Kenya are also on display in the museum.

The second room is much smaller, and contains signalling equipment and other communications equipment used by the railways, from bells and lamps and early typewriters, to vintage telephones. In the third room are items related to ships and water transport, the highlight for me being about Konigsberg, a German cruiser, which sunk off the coast during World War I. There's a fine sideboard and the captain’s table salvaged from the Konigsberg.

The last room is about modern railways in Kenya,most of which are being developed with Chinese collaboration like the SGR but back at the large, graveled yard outside, several engines, coaches and related railway equipment are spread out several of which, are open, and you are allowed to climb in to look around.

One particular coach caught my eye inside the pale blue shade by the gate, Coach #12, a first class coach in which a British police officer, Superintendent Charles Henry George Ryall had decided to sit up in watch determined to shoot the hell out of a lion only for him to unfortunately fall asleep so the lion simply walked in on him asleep and you know in that scenario the rest is history.

Closer to the gate of the yard is a locomotive which was used in the filming of the famous movie ‘Out of Africa’. This was a fascinating trip down history lane.

Travel Tip :

The tickets to the museum have to be bought at the actual museum building. If you are foreign visitor you might want to make sure you have the local currency, I have heard of situations where the amount charged in Kenya shillings vis-a-vis paying in dollars don't translate into the actual exchange rate so to avoid the hustle and inconvenience stick to paying in Kenya shillings.

Rates as at print date: Citizens Ksh 100 Residents Ksh 400

Opening hours: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (Monday-Saturday)

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