The Finnish Railway Museum celebrates its 119th birthday on 16th of March 2017. During the day museum’s exhibition are free for all visitors. Museum is open from 12 noon to 19 pm.
This year’s birthday’s theme is the Hyvinkää – Karkkila railway, which was the second longest narrow-gauge railway in Finland.
During the day, you can watch old photos, post-cards and a short documentary film about the Hyvinkää – Karkkila railway. Small artifacts from the railway will also be displayed.
In the evening, 5 pm and 6 pm, two lectures will be held in Finnish. Karkkila Museum’s Curator Janne Viitala’s subject is the history of the Hyvinkää – Karkkila narrow-gauge railway during 1911–1967. After him, Tapio Koskinen and Jussi Tepponen from Jokioisten Museorautatieyhdistys will tell about the steam locomotive number 5 “Sohvi”. Number 5 is the first locomotive completed after the independence of Finland and she operated on the Hyvinkää – Karkkila railway in years 1918–1967.
The Finnish Railway Museum was founded in Helsinki on the 16th of March 1889 and in 1974 the museum moved to Hyvinkää. In 1997 the Ministery of Education and Culture nominated the Finnish Railway Museum as a nationwide special museum, whose mission is to research, preserve and document the railway history of Finland.
