Nairobi Railway Museum

Established in 1971, the Nairobi Railway Museum preserves and displays artifacts from the East African Railways era. Located adjacent to Nairobi Railway Station, it features a collection of steam locomotives, passenger coaches, and historical documents, offering insights into the development of rail transport in East Africa. The museum remains operational, allowing for the maintenance and addition of exhibits. Notably, one of its locomotives, 301 (2301), was featured in the 1985 film ‘Out of Africa’.

Planning your visit

The Nairobi Railway Museum tells the story of the line the British called the Lunatic Express — the railway driven from Mombasa to Lake Victoria between 1896 and 1901 at enormous cost in money and lives, which effectively created Nairobi as a depot town along the way. The collection covers that: steam locomotives and rolling stock in the yard, including engine 301, used in the filming of Out of Africa, and carriages from the East African Railways era. Inside are documents, photographs, models and equipment.

Its most notorious exhibit relates to the Tsavo man-eaters, the lions that killed railway workers during construction in 1898 and halted the project for months — the carriage associated with a subsequent lion attack on a railway superintendent is preserved.

The museum is unpolished, dusty in places, and staffed by enthusiasts rather than curators, which is much of its charm. It sits next to Nairobi Railway Station near the city centre. Allow around an hour.

Bookable options include guided tours with free hotel pickup, which is the practical way to reach it given Nairobi traffic, and tours with backstage access into workshop areas not on the standard route. Combined city formats pair the museum with the KICC tower for its rooftop view over Nairobi and the war memorial. Guides matter here because the exhibits are minimally labelled and the history behind them is the point. Current options are shown below.