The Museum of Transportation (initialized MOT) is a 42-acre transportation museum in Kirkwood, Missouri. The Museum of Transportation is a privately owned and operated facility. Founded in 1944, it has a wide variety of vehicles: antique cars, boats, aircraft, and a sizable collection of locomotives and railroad equipment from around the United States. The museum houses 'one of the largest and best collections of transportation vehicles in the world,' according to the Smithsonian Institution.
The museum restores and displays a collection spanning 15 decades of American history. In addition to a world-class collection, the Museum is home to a nationally acclaimed research library of transportation-related memorabilia and documents.
MOT hosts eleven car shows annually.
A miniature train operates around a loop of track near the parking lot and full-sized restored trolleys operate Thursday-Sunday from April through October.
During the Christmas holiday season, MOT hosts the E. Desmond Lee Holiday Train Display, the largest indoor holiday display in Missouri.
The Museum is open daily March through October. In November through February the Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday. The Museum is closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day.
Vehicles and equipment
Railroad
The museum has its own railway spur to an active Union Pacific Railroad main line (formerly Missouri Pacific Railroad). This has allowed the museum to take possession of large and unusual pieces of railroad equipment. Among them are:
- Aerotrain No. 3
- The only surviving Milwaukee Road class EP-2 Bi-Polar Electric
- Union Pacific Big Boy #4006
- Norfolk & Western Y6a class 2-8-8-2 No. 2156 (Moved to the Virginia Museum of Transportation in Roanoke, Virginia, on a 5-year loan in May 2015. Will return to St. Louis in 2020)
- Union Pacific Centennial #6944 (sent to Altoona in 2014 for restoration and has returned)
- Southern Pacific class GS-6 "War Baby"" #4460
- The only surviving EMC 1800 hp B-B locomotive, the former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad #50
- EMD FT #103, the first F-unit built, a National Engineering Landmark
- Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western 4-4-0C #952, one of two DL&W steam locomotives and one of five Camelbacks in existence.
- Erie Lackawanna EMD SD45 #3607
- Missouri-Kansas-Texas 4-4-0 #311, the sole surviving M-K-T steam locomotive
- Chicago & Illinois Midland 2-8-2 #551, the sole surviving C&IM steam locomotive
- FDS (ITALIAN STATE RAILROAD) E550.025 electric locomotive
- New York Central 4-8-2 #2933, one of two surviving examples of large NYC steam power
- Wabash 2-6-0 #573, one of only two Wabash steam locomotives in existence
- Union Pacific 900081, a rotary snowplow
- The Whale, largest tank car ever built
- a PRR P5 electric locomotive #4700
- Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad #9908 Silver Charger, the locomotive of the General Pershing Zephyr
- Frisco 1522, used in excursions from 1988-2002.
- Frisco 1621, a sister to 1630 at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois
- a PRR GG1 electric locomotive #4918
At the Southwest corner of the property is Barretts Tunnel. Built in 1853, it is one of two tunnels, constructed concurrently and serving as the first railroad tunnels operating west of the Mississippi River. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The museum also operates a miniature railroad and a full-size trolley on a seasonal schedule.
Automobiles
The Earl C. Lindburg Automotive Center contains:
- 1908 Galloway Express truck
- 1901 St. Louis Motor Carriage Company car
- 1963 Chrysler Turbine Car
- 1964½ Ford Mustang
- 1915 Ford Model T
- Bobby Darin's Dream Car a DiDia 150
- St. Louis-built Automobile Gallery.
Boats and aircraft
There is a Missouri River towboat and two airplanes on display, a C-47 Skytrain at the main gate and a T-33 Shooting Star.
See also
- List of United States railroads
- List of Missouri railroads
- List of railway museums
References
External links
- Museum of Transportation â€" Official Website
- RailPictures.Net Photographs from the Museum of Transportation
