Description: The Museum of Transportation in west St. Louis County sits quietly on land donated almost 70 years ago while it’s supporters go all over the country looking for old vehicles or locomotives that need to be rescued, so future generations can tell how the mechanized world began. This museum is almost in my back yard, but I’d never been there. So last week I dropped by . . . To my surprise this museum has been acknowledged by the Smithsonian as a world class transportation collection with many "sole surviving" examples of engines and railroad cars as well as autos, trucks, old streetcars, boats, road construction equipment, and a plane that participated in D-Day! I was amazed! They even have the world’s largest successfully operated steam locomotive called "Big Boy". It weighs 1.2 million pounds and is 132 feet long. Its top speed was 80 mph and it remained in service till the late 1950’s. On the other end, one of the smaller exhibits, is a Boston and Providence Railroad Passenger Coach. It looks like a stagecoach on rail wheels, was built in 1830, and was originally pulled by horses.
Another of their locomotive engines has been colorfully painted to help the uninformed (myself included,) understand how a steam engine works (see picture). A big part of what the Museum of Transportation (MOT) does is education. I was told they host more than 50,000 school age children every year. As part of their educational emphasis, there are trained volunteers at all main exhibit sites to talk about the vehicles or to point out unusual facts that are not in the brochure. They also offer guided tours several times a day. The museum has over 70 locomotives, half of them sole survivors or one-of-a-kind. There are over 190 exhibits in the rail and transit collection alone, with more than 200 cars and trucks in the automotive section. It’s a big collection!
One other important aspect of the museum . . . in addition to collecting the actual vehicles and locomotives, the museum has been collecting documents, books, records and all manner of printed material pertaining to the evolution of transportation in this country. This library has brought worldwide attention to the site as scholars seek information they can’t find anywhere else.
The museum consists of several climate controlled buildings, a visitors center and store, a snack bar, a large covered shed, a small scale railroad that visitors can ride and several open air exhibits. The entrance fee is $4 for adults and $1.50 for kids and seniors.
For more information: the phone is 314-965-7998. The website is www.museumoftransportation.org. Directions: Follow 270 to Doughtery Ferry Rd. and go west. Turn left on Barrett Station Rd. The museum is a short distance down a hill on the right.
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