Museu dos Caminhos de Ferro de Lousado

The Lousado Railway Museum (Museu Ferroviário de Lousado) is a branch of Portugal's National Railway Museum, located in the municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão in the north of the country. It occupies the former workshops of the Guimarães railway company, right beside Lousado station, and is one of the most rewarding stops for rail and industrial-heritage enthusiasts in the Minho region.

Where is the museum and how do you get there?

The museum stands next to the railway station in Lousado, at the junction of the Minho Line and the Guimarães Line. Arriving by train is the obvious choice, since the station is literally next door. Vila Nova de Famalicão lies close to Braga, Guimarães and Porto, so the museum fits easily into a day trip around northern Portugal.

What is the history of the site?

The building takes up the whole former workshop complex of the Companhia dos Caminhos-de-Ferro de Guimarães, a company that operated from 1880 to 1927. It covers roughly 1,400 m². The workshops have been preserved in working condition, so visitors see rolling stock in an authentic industrial setting rather than a sterile gallery. It is a significant example of Portuguese industrial archaeology.

The museum was created as the successor to an earlier museum section that opened to the public in 1979 on the initiative of Armando Ginestal Machado, a great champion of railway museology in Portugal. That earlier site was demolished during the modernisation and electrification of the Minho and Guimarães lines. Today the museum is overseen by the Fundação Museu Nacional Ferroviário and run in partnership with the Municipal Chamber of Vila Nova de Famalicão.

What can you see?

The permanent exhibition presents rolling stock from eight companies that ran narrow-gauge railways in Portugal, along with a wide range of objects and equipment. The collection includes four steam locomotives, among them the oldest narrow-gauge locomotive in the country, built in England in 1874.

Highlights include:

• The SE yf G5 saloon carriage, a luxury coach used for official journeys on narrow-gauge routes, in which Presidents Óscar Carmona or Francisco Craveiro Lopes may have travelled,
• A medical carriage honouring Egas Moniz, a railway doctor who won the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1949,
• The ME7 railcar, built in Portugal in 1948 at the Santa Apolónia General Workshops.

Is it free, and when is it open?

Admission is free. According to available information, the museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 17:30, and Saturday and Sunday from 14:30 to 17:30. Hours can change, so check the National Railway Museum's website before you go.

Frequently asked questions

Is the museum suitable for children? Yes. Large locomotives and carriages that can be seen up close impress younger visitors, and free entry keeps a family outing cheap.

How long should I plan for a visit? One to two hours is usually enough, depending on your interest in railways.

Can I reach it by train? Yes, the museum adjoins Lousado station, where the Minho and Guimarães lines meet.

Who runs the museum? It is a branch (Núcleo) of the National Railway Museum, managed by the foundation in partnership with the municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão.

What sets it apart from other railway museums? The authentic setting of the old workshops and a narrow-gauge collection that includes a locomotive from 1874.