November 19, 2023:

 

            I got up and got dressed. I went to the lobby for breakfast. After breakfast I went back up to my room and got my stuff together. I then headed out to the bus stop. The bus soon came. I rode to the Civic Center Transit Center. I photographed the bus.

 

 

            I went to board a light rail train. I needed a blue line train, but I had previously read that at some point, they might be running trains on a single line and the blue line was only running from Forest Park. I decided that I would take the first train that came. If it was a blue line train, I’d ride to Clayton. If it was a red line train, I’d ride to Forest Park station and transfer to a blue line train there.

 

            A red line train arrived first. I photographed it before I got on.

 

 

            While I was on the train, I saw a deer as we passed by a park. We got to Forest Park and I got off. I waited for a blue line train. The Blue line train came a few minutes later following the Red line train I had arrived on so I could have stayed behind.

 

            I rode to the Clayton station. I got off and walked to where I saw the sign for the car rental place. When I got there, there was a note on the door telling the office was around the corner so I went.

 

            I got there and was able to check in and get my rental car which turned out to by a Hyundai Elentra. I headed off and drove the 20 minutes to the museum. Along the way, I passed what looked like an Amtrak station used by the River Cities trains between Kansas City and St. Louis (that continue onto Chicago).

 

            I soon arrived at the museum. I went inside and paid my admission. I took some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I then headed up a hill to go to where the museum keeps most of its rail equipment. Along the way, I photographed a couple exhibits.

 

 

 

 

            I then photographed some rail equipment.

 

 

 

 

            I then photographed the only surviving Milwaukee Road Bi-Polar electric locomotive.

 

 

 

            I then took a few more photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I saw that Chicago Transit Authority “L” car #44 was running. #44 is a sister to #48 at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum. I photographed it.

 

 

            I then photographed C&O 2-8-4 #2727 and Santa Fe 2-10-4 #5011.

 

 

 

 

            I photographed Union Pacific Big Boy #4006; one of eight surviving Big Boys. I have now photographed two of them. In 2019, Union Pacific restored Big Boy #4014 to operation; something that was long thought impossible.

 

 

            I photographed Union Pacific 4006 with CTA 44.

 

 

            As far as I know, this museum is the only museum that has both a Union Pacific Big Boy steam locomotive AND a piece of equipment similar to one at the Halton County Radial Railway Museum. This includes the Railgiants museum in California in which Union Pacific acquired #4014 from in exchange for an SD40-2, boxcar, and caboose. The museum also got profits from an excursion pulled by the #4014.

 

            CTA 44 was heading out shortly. I boarded the car and went for a ride on the museum’s line. The car actually made two round trips. We stopped near an old tunnel.

 

 

            We then headed back to the station. I went inside the display barn and photographed EMD FT demonstrator #103A. I had seen that unit and its B-unit at Streamliners at Spencer back in 2014.

 

 

 

Here’s FT #103A at Streamliners at Spencer.

 

            I then photographed St. Louis San Francisco 4-8-2 #1522. This locomotive had been used in excursion service until 2002 when the group running it had run out of money. The locomotive has run with Norfolk and Western #611 in the past.

 

            There are no plans to get the locomotive running again, but I’m sure it could be put back on the main line if money was available.

 

 

            I then photographed a CB&Q E unit.

 

 

            I then photographed CTA #44 again.

 

 

            I noticed museum members had attached a staircase to the front of #44. This was most likely done to allow members to get on board the car easier as it’s a high-platform car.

 

            I then photographed Union Pacific #4006 again both outside and inside the cab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I then photographed Union Pacific Centennial #6944.

 

 

            The 6944 had been repainted a few years ago and looks sharp. The unit however isn’t operational. The only operational Centennial was donated to a place in Illinois by Union Pacific along with former excursion star 4-6-6-4 #3985.

 

            I then went around the barn and photographed former GM&O observation car “Abraham Lincoln”.

 

 

            I then photographed former Southern Pacific GS-6 #4460 which is the only other surviving Daylight locomotive.

 

 

 

            #4460 had been used as a farewell to steam excursion as Southern Pacific ended steam operation before coming to the museum. It was never painted in the “Daylight” livery like GS-4 #4449 which is an excursion favorite. Many railfans would love to see #4460 restored to operation and run with #4449 but that doesn’t seem likely. However, no one said a Union Pacific Big Boy would ever be restored which ended in 2019 with the completion of 4014’s restoration.

 

            I then photographed Nickel Plate Road 4-6-4 #170.

 

 

            I then photographed C&O #2727.

 

 

            A number of 2727’s sister locomotives are preserved. One locomotive #2716 is being restored to operation in Kentucky.

 

            I then photographed Santa Fe #5021 and New York Central #2933. #2933 is one of a handful of surviving late steam era New York Central locomotives.

 

 

 

            I then photographed Erie-Lackawanna SD45 #3607.

 

 

            I then photographed Norfolk and Western steam locomotive #2156. I had photographed the locomotive at the Virginia Museum of Transportation in 2016 when I visited there after riding behind Norfolk and Western #611 for the second time.

 

 

 

Here’s #2156 in Roanoke back in 2016.

 

            The #2156 was in Roanoke as part of a temporary trade between the National Museum of Transportation and the Virginia Museum of Transportation. In exchange for the Roanoke museum getting #2156, this museum got the EMD FTB demonstrator which I had seen at Streamliners at Spencer. However the trade eventually ended and both locomotives returned to their respective museums.

 

            I then photographed St. Louis streetcar #10 which is another of the museum’s operational streetcars.

 

 

            I photographed an SP&S caboose and CTA #44 at the end of the museum track.

 

 

 

            I photographed what is the first tunnel west of the Mississippi River. It is currently disused and access is not allowed.

 

 

            I then went into the museum’s Abbott building and photographed Brooklyn subway car #1365.

 

 

            I then photographed St. Louis PCC #1743 which has been restored to its original St. Louis livery.

 

 

 

            I then went outside and photographed an exhibit car from what looked like a traveling art exhibit as well as a locomotive from the US Army.

 

 

 

            I then photographed Former Muni PCC #1140.

 

 

 

 

 

You can see the original St. Louis red coming through.

 

            #1140 is one of many PCCs that St. Louis sold to San Francisco when they stopped running streetcars. #1140 had been acquired recently as Muni had sold off many PCCs they had in storage which I had gone to see on both my trips to San Francisco.

 

            They apparently have another ex San Francisco ex St Louis PCC which I did not see. Either that car or #1140 will be used for parts and the other may be restored in the future.

 

            PCC #1743 was also acquired from San Francisco upon retirement. Museum members restored the car to its as delivered appearance.

 

            I then took a few more photos.

 

 

 

 

 

            I then photographed former Amtrak GG1 #4916. This unit is former Pennsylvania #4918.

 

 

 

            I then took a few more photos.

 

 

 

            I went by a station on the museum grounds that had a couple model railways. I photographed them.

 

 

 

            I then went into an exhibit building where they have some vintage cars on display. There were more model railway layouts in the building as well. I took some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            One thing I noticed was that this building had a second floor. There was even an elevator for disabled people. I guess it had to be ADA compliant but still a bit interesting visiting a railway museum with an elevator. I took some photos on the second floor.

 

 

 

 

            I took a few more photos outside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I then photographed a Douglas C-47A military transport aircraft and the towboat HT Pott. The HT Pott is similar to a boat called the Mauvilla which in 1993 was pushing 6 barges on the Mobile River and made a wrong turn into Bayou Canot and collided with a bridge. The next train to cross the bridge was Amtrak’s eastbound Sunset Limited which derailed and plunged into the bayou killing 47 people on the train. That remains Amtrak’s deadliest accident.

 

 

 

 

            I headed towards the gift shop. I took a few more photos on the way.

 

 

 

            There is a scale train that runs around the front of the museum. I wanted to ride but I had to get an additional ticket. I went into the gift shop to buy a ticket. While in the gift shop, I took some photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I photographed an exhibit on hyperloop technology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I took some more photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

            I then bought lunch. After lunch I went out to go out to ride the train. This time I was able to get on. The train left. I photographed a Missouri Pacific railbus.

 

 

            We passed one of the GM Aerotrain sets. I photographed the rear of the trainset.

 

 

            I then photographed a Flexible Fishbowl.

 

 

            I photographed some planes on display.

 

 

 

            I photographed a Wabash caboose among other things.

 

 

 

            The train actually made two loops around. I photographed the Missouri Pacific railbus again.

 

 

            I got off. I walked over and photographed the train.

 

 

 

I took a lot of photos this day. Click to see what happened the rest of the day:    National Museum of Transportation part 2