Italian National Railway Museum Naples

Will be in Naples in the summer and was wondering if anyone had been to the national railway museum and if so what they thought of it.

Thanks

 

What do you want to know?
I have been many times and enjoy it. Interesting location (!) and if you drive parking is fun.
Inside there is lots of things to do and see. You need to like the colour black!!

I would suggest arriving by train as the station is at the entrance, shops and service are variable as it is a state run museum. Plenty of other things to do around there and in my avatar is 50% of the steam fleet of the 7 1/4" railway about 15km from the museum. I am usually there a few times over the summer.

I will make some enquiries to see if they are steaming anything this summer

Adrian

 

Thanks, will have to persuade the rest of the family it is worth a visit or leave the girls to go shopping.

 

I made a call last night to a good friend who is involved with the museum. There are no steaming days planned but some of the diesels will be being fired up on an occasional basis. There is some reconstruction work in progress on the buildings and one or two areas may be fenced off (not in the steam hall).

The museum is only open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 until 16:30 but the ticket office closes for lunch at 1pm, supposedly for 30 minutes but my friend said it's usually a bit longer.....
The other issue is that the trains to not currently run to the station right next to the museum due to a landslip, nobody is sure when the line will reopen. There are replacement buses and the normal buses pass quite close. Like most of Italy you do not pay the bus tickets on the bus. You buy a ticket (newsagent, bar etc) that you stamp on the bus and is valid for a 60 minute period within a certain zone.
If you go in the summer take a bottle of water with you when you are out, the sun really does 'crack the pavement' as they say here.

As an addition if you have to choose which site to visit Pompeii or Herculaneum there are pro's and cons to each.
Pompeii has the name and the larger area but under the heat it can be a bit of a marathon and to be honest it's not well kept.
Herculaneum is in a small area so there is less to see, but the ruins are more complete, even including the upper floors.

The Circumvesuviana (Vesuvian Circle Railway) is not part of the state system but goes to many places of interest around Naples and the stations in some cases are much closer to the attractions that the FS ones.

Naples is a vibrant place and like any big city has it's good and bad parts. No trip is complete without a visit to Sorrento and Capri, though why anyone would want to name such a beautiful island after a dodgy Ford two seater car is beyond me.....

 

Thanks for the info. We have already done Pompeii and Herculaneum. Herculaneum, is as you say more complete and also has the advantage of being less visited.
How long would you allow for a visit to the railway museum?

 

Just a general word about the exhibits. There is not much supporting information by the exhibits and there is not much hands-on or going inside of vehicles (officially... but you will see loads of kids climbing on things as though it were a climbing frame and being told to get down by the museum staff). The collection is impressive and it covers a wide range from the first steam loco (a replica actually of the second loco, but the two were identical) through three phase electrics to more modern times. There are some impressive state saloons which you can look through the windows and always raise gasps of wonderment. Whether your girls will enjoy it depends on their interests. You could spend hours examining the exhibits but you could walk round in about one hour. It depends on your level of interest.

 

Thanks again.