Sagano Romantic Railway Diorama - Atlas Obscura

Sagano Romantic Railway Diorama

Model trains whizz around an extensive room-sized diorama of Kyoto City.  

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Hidden at the back of a private railway station on the outskirts of Kyoto city, visitors will find a wonderland for railway enthusiasts.

The private Torroko-Saga station, which sits alongside the more mundane JR Saga-Arashiyama station, offers scenic rides up into the foothills of Kyoto for tourists to drink in “romantic” mountain scenery in open-air carriages. But the station’s playground may keep you from ever leaving the station itself. 

A model railway like no other awaits guests. Set in a city-wide-diorama so extensive it includes a footbridge. From this vantage point, multiple trains zip here and there as they are driven by enthusiasts using coin-operated controls on the perimeter. 

But the fun doesn’t stop there, other minor diversions surround the ticketed diorama room such as a video arcade game that puts you in the driver’s seat of a Shinkansen-bullet train as it whips through the mind-fusing network of ever-merging train lines. Another room includes ferocious relics from the Steam Age.  

 

Know Before You Go

As you exit the main Saga-Arashiyama JR station, the Sagano Romantic Railway station is directly on your right.

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MJT

February 5, 2024

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