Panel 12 - Madrid-Delicias, 140 years of a station

The Madrid Railway Museum opened its doors on December 19, 1984

fter the end of railway traffic in Delicias, the station was in danger of disappearing. It was saved thanks to the proposal to turn it into a large museum. On April 29, 1980, RENFE and the Culture Ministry signed an agreement by virtue of which the latter, after a request was made to declare Delicias Station a Historic-Artistic Monument, would subsidise the work to restore the building, so that it could house the Railway Museum and the National Science and Technology Museum.

Shortly after its closure, an important collection of locomotives, railcars, coaches and carriages, representing the history of the railway in Spain, had been gathered in the surroundings of Delicias. Starting in 1982, major remodelling projects were carried out, one of which involved closing off the south entrance to the main passenger building with a large glass screen, thereby enabling its use as a museum.

After the works were finished, the collection of the Museo de Salón railway museum, which RENFE opened in 1967 in Madrid’s Fernán Núñez Palace, was moved to this refurbished space. Finally, what was then known as the National Railway Museum opened its doors in Delicias on December 19, 1984. Shortly thereafter, in February 1985, the Spanish Railways Foundation (FFE) was established and took over its management.

Installation of the Museum’s glass screen. 1984. <i>Archivo Adif</i>

Installation of the Museum’s glass screen. 1984. Archivo Adif

Since 2009, the Madrid Railway Museum has formed part of the Spanish Museums Network, being currently attached to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda.

In 2010, the bibliographic and documentary resources that remained in Fernán Núñez Palace, the FFE’s current headquarters, were incorporated into the Museum. This institutional reorganisation has enabled the Museum to offer society a global access to Spain’s railway heritage, becoming its most important benchmark in this field in the country.