At the end of April 2014 we took a vacation to St. Louis and one of the days we stopped at the Museum of Transportation. I knew there was some train equipment at the museum, and one of those was the Union Pacific Big Boy 4006. Little did I know that there was so much more to see at this museum.
In the main building there was a nice art piece of smaller frames to make up a large image of the Big Boy. It was really cool and one of the more interesting art pieces I’ve seen of a train.
It was a cold day, but the first thing we did after leaving the main entry building was ride the little train around the grounds. Going around once would have been enough (because of the cold) but they took us around twice.
There were a few items of note along the little tour and we passed over a bridge which was an actual turntable from the 20s. After we stopped Shirley and Wesley posed for a quick picture next to the little locomotive.
We went to a building housing a lot of old cars. They were interesting and we spent 15 minutes or so there, but what I really wanted to see were trains. So out we went back into the cold, and the fun began. There were a lot of them. I was expecting maybe 10-20 assorted rolling stock, maybe a few steam engines. But there was so much all over the place – I’ve never seen so many steam locomotives in one place before!
I’m just going to showcase a few of my favorites since there were so many. I love old passenger trains, especially the streamlined and industrial look of those like the CB&Q Silver Charger.
Seeing one of those barreling down the track would have been a sight to see! I also stumbled on another CB&Q passenger train, #9939A which has a more modern look.
The main reason I wanted to visit the museum was to see the Union Pacific Big Boy 4006. I had already seen Big Boy 4014 before it left California to get restored in Wyoming, but seeing another one in a different setting (and with no crowd!) was a good opportunity to get more pictures. 4006 had just been repainted and they were doing some cosmetic work on it. We were able to go into the cab and it was a lot bigger inside than I expected it to be.
We were also able to get in the cab of AT&SF 5011 and ring the bell which took a bit of effort. 5011 was another big steam locomotive that I wasn’t expecting to see. For some reason I only have a picture of the front of the engine which doesn’t really show the size of it.
There was a diesel locomotive that was outside by itself – Union Pacific 6944. It’s a really long engine (I think this class was the longest ever built) and very rusty. Most of the other locomotives at the museum seem to be fairly well kept, but for some reason this one looks like it was ignored and left to sit in the rain neglected.
And speaking of Union Pacific, the last thing I saw on my tour of the museum was Union Pacific 90081 – a ginormous rotary snowplow:
At first I saw it from the side and wondered why it was so tall. As I walked around to the front, I saw the 12 foot tall wheel. Apparently this thing is so big and heavy that it can’t move on its own; it requires a few locomotives pushing it.
Overall I really enjoyed visiting the Museum of Transportation and I was pleased with what they had to offer. I could probably spend a full day there just looking at the trains. The few workers/volunteers that I talked to were really nice and very knowledgeable about the history of the different locomotives.
Parting shot: Wesley running to catch his train.
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