Museums and other Sites

How about more info like the route you are planning on taking? Plenty of great places across this country but it would help if you have a general route so myself and others could more easily make recommendations. 

MY plan is to find all the places I would like and connect the dots to the west coast.

If southern Arizona is on your itinerary there are several places of interest in and around Tucson.

 

On the railroad side, there is the Gadsden Pacific Toy Train Museum, with layouts in every gauge from N to G, plus a 7-1/2" gauge outdoor railroad and a WWII-era Rio Grande steel caboose. Open the second and fourth Sundays of each month, plus additional days in Christmas season. Gadsden Pacific Museum

 

There is a small transportation museum in downtown Tucson next to the railroad station. The highlight is a nicely restored SP 2-6-0 Mogul in a shaded enclosure near the tracks.

 

Tucson has one of the better aviation museums in the country. The Pima Air and Space Museum has a large assortment of Cold War jets, a hangar devoted entirely to a WWII B-17 exhibit, an SR-71 Blackbird, a former Air Force One, and much more. Pima Air and Space Museum

 

For nature and wildlife, there are the East and West parts of Saguaro National Park, home of the majestic saguaro cactus. Near Saguaro National Park West is the Sonora-Arizona Desert Museum, an exhibition of the animals and plants of the Sonora Desert. The highlight, in season, is a daily demonstration of free-flying raptors and other desert birds. Desert Museum

 

Those are the highlights, there's lots of other good stuff in southern Arizona. Good train watching on the UP mainline (former Southern Pacific) through downtown Tucson. Great Mexican food. Check it out.

Pennsylvania has Steamtown National Historic Site in the north, and Strasburg Rail Road further south, right next door literally to the RR Museum of Pennsylvania. Allow 3 days at least to enjoy these sites.

 

Larry

If You go West on I-80, Stop in Colfax Iowa, East of Des Moines and see Trainland USA - Nice Lionel Train Layout 

http://www.trainlandusa.com/menu.html

 

Denver - Forney Transportation Museum   They have a Big Boy

http://www.forneymuseum.org/

 

Golden, Colo  - Colorado Railroad Museum  http://coloradorailroadmuseum.org/

 

Utah - Hill Air force Museum, North of Salt Lake City - great museum for airplanes

http://www.hill.af.mil/library/museum/

 

North of Salt Lake - Ogden Utah State Railroad Museum

 http://theunionstation.org/mus...ate-railroad-museum/

 

Have a fun and safe trip !

If you get to Vancouver BC, the Granville Island Model Ship and Model Train Museum is stunning.  Big building, have to pay to see it, with a fantastic model ship museum (many models used in movies, some twenty feet long, etc.) on one side and model trains on the other (all scales including some big steam ones).  Either alone is great, together they are the best I have seen.  

No American road trip is complete without a stop in Cawker KS to see the worlds largest ball of twine. You take Clark Grisswalds word for that.

It's hard to compete with the world's largest ball if twine, but the Union Pacific Museum in Council Bluffs, IA is a must stop.

Thanks Guys , I would thought I would get more replies but guess no one travels LOL

If you are looking for planes, check out the museum at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Fighters, bombers, presidential planes, missiles. All free.

Yes....if you are into planes...a GREAT place to visit..I was able to climb into the B-36 so the thrill of a lifetime.....then a short drive over to Cinnci and Entertrainment Junction....G scale but  fantastic display. 

 

EDIT: Gettysburg PA......Went there for a car show.....figured they would have a cannon and battlefield but was blown away by the entire town, displays and the experience in whole. Everyone should go once. The Civil War is nothing what I had in my mind.

Greenfield Village/The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI, and then The Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago.

 

Jeff C

The California State RR Museum in Sacramento has a Cab Forward and much more.The UP Shop tour in Cheyenne has 844,3985,4014 and more.The ST louis RR Museum in Kirkwood, large collection of Engines and rolling Stock.That should keep you busy.

My favorites out here:
The Illinois Railway Museum in Union, IL. Check to see whether they are open: http://irm.org
The Fox River Valley Trolley Museum in South Elgin, IL. Check their dates. http://foxtrolley.org
The East Troy Electric Railroad in East Troy, WI. http://easttroyrr.org/
The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Lots of transportation-related things. http://www.msichicago.org/

If you get to San Diego, do not miss the San Diego model railroad museum in Balboa Park. It's one of the largest in the country.

Yosemite National Park

Museum of Transportation St. Louis Mo

 

Museum of the American Railroad Frisco,TX 

 

Golden Spike Tower North Platte,NE

 

 

Out Colorado/New Mexico way, there's also the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad and the Durango and Silverton, both former D&RGW narrow gauge along with the Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden and the Forney Museum in Denver.

 

Basically, you're gonna run out of time before you run out of dots.  I once did Strasburg/B&O museum/Cass in one 4 day trip (from Chicago, no cruise control.)  I was exhausted.

 

Rusty

Looks like all I thought of are covered above.  Pick the ones you like, push pin

them on a map, and plan your route.

In Virginia you have the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach, having the world's largest collection of working antique military planes, and in Roanoke the O. Winston Link Museum and Virginia Museum of Transportation, which has everything from covered wagons to a rocket.  All three highly recommended.

that must have been back in the good old days when they would let you go thru planes. Dad and I went thru 2 B-17s, the B-24,I sat in several fighters (P-51,Me-262) The B-36 was on my wish list, but they ended that program. Wright Patt needs more than one day to attempt to see most of the collection.

If you are going thru Southen California,

http://planesoffame.org/

http://www.marchfield.org/

http://www.oerm.org/

Don't know where in the NE you're starting but please drop down to Baltimore and see the B&O Museum.  It's a must for anyone remotely interested in trains.

See Muir Woods park, north of San Francisco, the redwoods are magnificent!!!!. in southern Calif (San Diego) go to Balboa Park there is a multi-gauge train museum

if you show up on a Tuesday ask for me for a behind the scenes tour.

 

any other day tell  them you are on the OGR forum and they should let you in the back.

A shame they stopped the walk/crawl trough of the planes.....but in today's lawsuit happy nation I can see why. We did not know the B-36 was open the day we went....so I was lucky!!! It was a few years ago....the XB-70 was up front and you could walk up a touch it!!! Another cool plane!!

when I was in Jr High, Dad and I meant the Director Col Richard Upstrum. We were telling him about our life long interest in WWll aircraft, especially the B-17. Col Upstrum opened a desk drawer, grabbed some keys and said "come on" He personally took up thru the B-17 they had before Shoo Shoo Baby. The while sitting in the pilot's seat, he told us about his Post WWll experences as part of the drone project, that included B-17s. After almost an hour he had to go to a meeting. He told us to let the receptionist know when we were done so someone could lock the plane up. Then he left the two of us alone in the plane where we spent quite a while in. After that, all they asked was to call ahead and set up a time to either be there before the museum opened or after they closed so they wouldn't have a crowd wanting to go in the plane. That later progressed to having a museum volunteer wait outside the plane. This was to prevent any vandalism.  Then Sept 11th put an end to the program all together.

They do have a part of the Air Force Museum site where they have cameras set up in certain aircraft (B-36 is one of them) and you can see inside the planes.Nice, but just not the same!

 I haven't seen the B-70 since it was moved inside. I remember it sitting in front of the museum outside when you could walk up and touch it, and any aircraft throughout the building. Now that have "don't touch signs all over the place.

Thanks such great info guys, now ill have to buy a motorhome to visit everything. lol