Part of the preserved Haifa East station building at the museum
Reinhard Dietrich
Israel Railway Museum is the national railway museum of Israel, located in Haifa. The railway museum is located at the Haifa East Railway Station which nowadays no longer serves passengers.
The museum features the railway history of Israel back to 1892 with the inauguration of the first line between Jaffa and Jerusalem. The location itself is an attraction, as it was the shed for the Jezreel Valley branch of the former Hejaz Railway. The museum is located within the historic stone buildings of Haifa East Station – the original station of the legendary “Valley Train”. The museum features a collection of rolling stock, signs, tickets and other items. The museum has both an indoor and an outdoor section.
Tender of Palestine Railways P class 4-6-0 steam locomotive No. 62 Reinhard Dietrich Public Domain
During the visit, you will pass over a pedestrian bridge crossing the active railway lines of the Station, offering a magnificent view of the passing trains, and of Haifa at the lower part of the Carmel. On the other side of the bridge you’ll find the building that houses the Museum’s small exhibits featuring historical tools and equipment, pictures, cards, stamps and train models, among other artefacts.
A compartment inside Salon-coach #98 of Palestine Railways, built in 1922 Reinhard Dietrich – Own work Public Domain
Hejaz Railway locomotive No. 10 Reinhard Dietrich – Own work Public Domain
Following the updated development plans of the Eretz Israel Museum, located near the corner of Rokach Boulevard and Namir Street in Tel Aviv, the museum was required to evacuate the historical railway Exhebition that it had been placed in since 1988. The museum’s representatives approached the Israel Railways Following which the director general of Israel Railway, – Mr. Shahar Ayalon and the museum’s director – Mr.Ami Katz, agreed that the rolling stock items would be returned to Israel Railways, which placed them in Tel Aviv at the time. Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv. At 5 am on Sunday, 6.1.2019, a huge mobile crane of 300 tons of “Taavura” was placed in a location that enables it to lift all the rolling stock located at the Tel Kasila road and tracks” site in the Museum compound on its” southwestern side. About two hours later, the evacuation began. First lifted – RUSTON & HORNSBY 88DS, – An industrial locomotive manufactured by the British company Ruston & Hornsby in the late 1940s for the cement factory in Hartuv (later Beit Shemesh) The second – Esslingen Maybach drive unit number 5′ , purchased from Germany as part of the reparations in 1955 The third – freight box wagon was transported to the engine area in Be’er Sheva, near locomotive 8F 70414. The fourth was Deutz locomotive (from the reparations money from Germany), No. 202 , built in Germany 1959 A dwarf signal and a railroad trolley from the 1950s ‘ lifted to to a small truck. All the exhibits were transported by trucks to the Railway Museum (a night stop at the “Taavura” compound in Haifa). Their combined unloading was held on 7.1.19 at the Haifa Railway Museum The Esslingen Maybach drive unit number 5, left the site at 10 pm accompanied by 7 police cars, directly to the railway museum. Roadblocks and professional accompaniment were carried out Editing of the video and some of the night photographs by photographer “Rotem Dozetas “Photography . Thanks to Mr. Chen melling -Israel railway museum manager for his blessed professional work.
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