Uganda Railway Museum

The Uganda Railway Museum occupies the old Jinja railway station on the Jinja–Iganga highway, preserving steam locomotives and rolling stock from the colonial-era railway that once linked the town to Kampala and the coast. The collection is small but genuine — rusting engines, original signals, and period photographs that tell the story of how the railway transformed Uganda's economy in the early twentieth century.

It's a community-run operation and opening hours can be variable, so it's worth calling ahead or stopping by early in the day. The museum doesn't take long, but the setting beside the old station building gives it real atmosphere.

things to do museum
A story
The railway that connected Jinja to Kampala was part of the Uganda Railway, built by the British between 1896 and 1901 using indentured labour from India. The line was critical to opening up Uganda and Lake Victoria for trade — and for British imperial ambitions in East Africa. Many of the Indian workers who survived stayed, founding the South Asian community whose descendants still live in Jinja today.