Train museum to take tourists back in time

TOURISM | TRAIN | MUSEUM

Last week I went back in time to Uganda Railway Museum, located along the Jinja/Iganga highway where locals baptized it the iron snake. 

It happens to be the only one in East Africa which was built by Indian Coolies in 1900.

In our primary history lessons, we were taught how the Tsavo lions mauled hundreds of them. The vintage telephones units, telegraph machines, photographs, literature, and other gadgets bring that history back to life. 

“We continue to diversify our attractions by the day,” says Uganda Tourism Board CEO Lilly Ajarova. “These physical units and gadgets illustrated what is either written or orally delivered.”

True to Ajarova’s word there are books to be read, videos to watch in the coaches, and renovated units.

“It gives you the physical feel of where we have been, how the challenges were braved then, and how the railway impacted lives economically, socially and politically,” says Ajarova. 

A guide Dauphne Mpumude ushers’ guests through the museum, which was opened to the public on March 16, 2022. There is a shop and cafeteria. It is open to visitors from Tuesdays to Sundays, 11:00 am-6:00 pm. 

“We will come to both young or old, families and groups,” said Mpumude. “We continue to improve the Museum, allowing access to more of the collection and allowing visitors to get up close to railway heritage.”

The project is a partnership between the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) and the Uganda Railways Corporation, with support from the European Union. (All Photos by Titus Kakembo)

In the future, there is expected to be a demonstration of how the steam engine locomotive operated.

Ugandan citizens will pay sh5,000 and children sh2,000 as an entree fee. Non-citizens pay $5 for adults and $3 for children. 

Part of the museum has been designed with young people in mind to support their learning and appreciation of Uganda’s history.

The project is a partnership between the Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) and the Uganda Railways Corporation, with support from the European Union.

Beaming with smiles of satisfaction CCFU’s executive director, Barbra Babweteera Mutambi says the museum demonstrates the foundation’s commitment to safeguarding historical buildings, sites, and monuments.

While at the museum most of the journalists were coming this close to a train for the first time in life. 

Others had read about them in novels of the African Writers Series in the 1960s when the time was told by the arrival of the training when a loud sound announced it. Namasagali College is said to be one of the first railway stations in the country.