Museum of Transportation St Louis

Those vsiting the St Louis MO area for the first time should see the Museum of Transportation - approximately 16 miles southwest of downtown St. Louis

http://www.transportmuseumassociation.org/index.htm

The Museum has one of the most complete collections of American railroad motive power - See the Union Pacific #4006 (“Big Boy&rdquo, the largest successful steam locomotive ever built.

The Museum of Transportation, in West St. Louis County, MO, houses what has been recognized as one of the largest and best collections of transportation vehicles in the world. The Museum was founded in 1944 by a group of historically minded citizens who had acquired the mule-drawn streetcar "Bellefontaine." In 1948, the Transport Museum Association (TMA) incorporated as a non-profit educational organization to better serve the financial and volunteer needs of the Museum. Land was acquired at Barretts Station in St. Louis County, along the right-of-way of the historic Missouri Pacific Railroad, and over the years, the mule-drawn streetcar was joined by hundreds of other significant exhibits. On September 1, 1979, the St. Louis County Department of Parks and Recreation formally assumed the operation and development of the Museum, accepting it as a gift from the original founders in February 1984. Today, its mission is to be the leader in protecting and interpreting North Americaãs transportation heritage.

Located on 129 acres, the Museum is approximately 16 miles southwest of downtown St. Louis, on a site which includes one of the two first man-made railroad tunnels west of the Mississippi River. The Museum site also features more than four miles of switching and exhibition track, and its 10 buildings include a nationally acclaimed research library of transportation-related memorabilia and documents.

With over 70 locomotives, half of them "one-of-a-kind" or "sole survivors" of their type, the Museum has one of the most complete collections of American railroad motive power, and its collections of automobiles, buses, streetcars, aircraft, horse-drawn vehicles, and riverboat materials are constantly expanding to reflect the ever-changing nature of transportation.