Railway Town Omiya – Railway Town Omiya hosts 2019 Railway Fair. The festival is held in the JR East Omiya Yard.
Omiya is considered a railway town. Not only because of the number of train lines and marshaling and railway yards in the city, but also because of the incredible Railway Museum. One of the two best railway museums in all of Japan. Even if you are not that into trains, the railway museum in Omiya is well worth a visit as there is something for everyone.
Railway Fair in Omiya Railway Town
The festival starts around 9.15 am with an opening ceremony. There are several mini trains for children including mini steam locomotives and mini shinkansen. Please note there is usually long queues for each of these.
Other attractions on the day include several stage performances, food stalls with special menus, stamp rally and demonstrations. There is also a very popular and unusual pedal car ride – you can pedal a vehicle along the railway tracks.
You can see the full line up with photos in this PDF, but it is only available in the Japanese language.
Access
The JR East Omiya train yard is close to Omiya station, just past the JACK radio station after you cross the road. Several trains go into Omiya including the Takasaki line, the Keihin Tohoku line, the Saikyo line, the Musashino line, the Tobu Urbanpark line, to name but a few. And there are a handful of shinkansen bullet trains and special or limited express that stop at this station. You can reach Omiya station in less than an hour from many parts of Tokyo (as well as other prefectures), some as close as 30 minutes without using an express or bullet train.
Other train festivals
The following week the Seibu line are having a railway festival in Hidaka. You can find more information for that here. You will also find information in the event pages for several other annual train festivals around Saitama.