Museum of Transportation

Lately, I've been picking all of our explore St. Louis Saturday outings and I really wanted Tony to select the next venue.  Since he was tired of all of my outdoor activities and wanted a day spent indoors enjoying the cool A/C, he selected the Museum of Transportation.  My husband should have spent a little more time researching his selection.  If he had, he would have learned that 90% of the Museum of Transportation is outside.  I'm only sorry that I didn't have the camera handy to capture his face when he realized that this would be yet another outdoor activity!

As you arrive at the museum, this is the sight that greets you.  The Museum of Transportation was originally founded in 1944 by a group of individuals dedicated to preserving the past.  In 1979, operation of the museum was turned over to the St. Louis County Parks.

The site where the museum is located sits alongside the original Pacific Railroad and includes one of the first two tunnels west

of the Mississippi River.

How could we not take a picture of this?  :)

This was by far the prettiest car in the collection.  The red paint was filled with glitter and we all know that I love my glitter!

A 1960 DiDia

A significant portion of the car building was dedicated to the history of Route 66 and its passage through St. Louis.

Of course we rode the little train! 

With more than 70 locomotives, the museum hosts the most complete collection of American rail power in the world.  They have restored the interiors of a few of them so that you can walk through them.

We believe that this is the oldest train in the collection.  It's also one of my favorites.  There's a lot of beauty in its design.