About the Museum > Museum History
Museum History
Since 2008, the Transportation Museum has been a unique, one-day event for toddlers, adults, and everyone in between. Each year, visitors are treated to interactive and educational exhibits related to all kinds of transportation, from the Transcontinental Railroad and projects to solve Bay Area traffic to programming miniature robots and solving an Amtrak-themed escape room.
Museum History
As a young child, museum director Andrew Mancini loved transportation of all kinds, especially trains. In fact, at the age of five, he had memorized all of the stations on the CalTrain line and knew all of the train engine numbers.
As a way to share his love for, and knowledge of, transportation with friends, family, and neighbors, Andrew created The Transportation Museum at the age of five. The museum, like those in subsequent years, occurred on a single day during the summer at Andrew's house. Early exhibits included displays of the schedules of every Bay Area transit route, organized on the family sofa; learning about the R.M.S. Titanic by allowing guests to send their own Morse code messages; and slot car racing at the "Grapefruit 500," a track set up on the cover of the hot tub in Andrew's backyard.
In 2013, Andrew wrote hand-written, personalized letters to transit agencies in the 40 largest cities in the U.S. and each transit agency in California and Nevada. Over 75 percent of these organizations wrote back, sending in not just the schedules and maps that were requested, but also fun items — chapstick, Yo-Yo toys, and rain ponchos — branded with their logo, forming the foundation of what is today the museum collection.
About the Museum > Museum History
About the Museum > Frequently Asked Questions
Museum History
Frequently Asked Questions
We'll admit that The Transportation Museum isn't your typical museum! It's a one-day event held annually featuring interactive and educational exhibits related to all kinds of transportation, from historical displays (like the Pony Express or the Transcontinental Railroad) to those looking toward the future (solving Bay Area traffic and traveling to Mars). If it's your first time visiting the museum or you're interested in a refresher on what to expect, read answers to common guest questions.
What are the exhibits like?
Each of the museum exhibits are different, but each year's museum brings between 10 to 12 brand-new exhibits to the public. Each exhibit combines both educational components and interactive activities, so every display can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. For example, in the Float Your Boat exhibit at the museum in 2016, guests learned the science behind how boats float and discovered what buoyancy and water displacement is. Then, guests worked to build a boat out of LEGOs that could carry cargo containers while remaining afloat. In an exhibit at the museum in 2019, visitors programmed miniature robots through a San Francisco-themed obstacle course to learn, hands-on, how self-driving cars function. These two exhibits are just a couple of examples of the educational and interactive combination present at each of the museum's displays.
Since 2008, the Transportation Museum has been a unique, one-day event for toddlers, adults, and everyone in between. Each year, visitors are treated to interactive and educational exhibits related to all kinds of transportation, from the Transcontinental Railroad and projects to solve Bay Area traffic to programming miniature robots and solving an Amtrak-themed escape room.
Museum History
As a young child, museum director Andrew Mancini loved transportation of all kinds, especially trains. In fact, at the age of five, he had memorized all of the stations on the CalTrain line and knew all of the train engine numbers.
As a way to share his love for, and knowledge of, transportation with friends, family, and neighbors, Andrew created The Transportation Museum at the age of five. The museum, like those in subsequent years, occurred on a single day during the summer at Andrew's house. Early exhibits included displays of the schedules of every Bay Area transit route, organized on the family sofa; learning about the R.M.S. Titanic by allowing guests to send their own Morse code messages; and slot car racing at the "Grapefruit 500," a track set up on the cover of the hot tub in Andrew's backyard.
In 2013, Andrew wrote hand-written, personalized letters to transit agencies in the 40 largest cities in the U.S. and each transit agency in California and Nevada. Over 75 percent of these organizations wrote back, sending in not just the schedules and maps that were requested, but also fun items — chapstick, Yo-Yo toys, and rain ponchos — branded with their logo, forming the foundation of what is today the museum collection.
Transportation Museum 2017 > Exhibits
2017 Exhibits
This year's exhibits combined interactivity with educational elements, making it easier for all ages to enjoy the museum. The exhibits ranged from how the pioneers got to California to Highway 50 to building a helium balloon platform out of LEGOs!
Transit Detectives
In this exhibit, guests used their detective skills to match 10 transit collectibles with the city that they came from! For example, a bus that said "ACE" on the side of it would be from Las Vegas.
Reaching California
Get a glimpse of what life was like on the trail going to California. You'll get to make the same life-or-death decisions that the pioneers did: Do you pack more clothing or more food? What draft animal should you take? Should you take the shortcut?
The online version of this exhibit is coming soon! Please check back later.
Drivers Test
Test your driving skill by playing a simulator game and answering driving test questions. When you've passed, get your own Transportation Museum Driver's License!
Purchase City Car Driving Game >
GET A R1DE
You've probably heard a lot about ride hailing services like Uber and Lyft. But do you know how they work? And how they compare to taxis? Get answers to these questions and more!
The Loneliest Road in America
In July 1986, Life Magazine described Highway 50 through Nevada as "The Loneliest Road in America." While this description may be accurate, in this exhibit, you'll learn what there is to do along the way. How would a Highway 50 trip compare to a Disneyland vacation?
The online version of this exhibit is coming soon! Please check back later.
Transportation Mutation Station
Make images "come alive" by animating them, adding emotions, and even recording your own sounds!
Dangerous Train Rides
View video footage of some of the world's steepest, narrowest, and most crowded railways. In other words, these are the most dangerous railways in the world!
Transit Targets
Based on a fun carnival game, in this exhibit, you get 15 pennies to score as many points as possible by throwing the pennies into the targets!
Roll Your Ride
Learn how transportation choices affect climate change while playing a fun carnival game: you roll 6 balls with the hope of getting a very low score or a very high score!
Up, Up, and Away!
Learn how hot air balloons work before building your very own LEGO Helium Balloon and watching it float up toward the sky!
The online version of this exhibit is coming soon! Please check back later.
Transportation Trivia
New this year was a transportation-themed game show! Participants competed for prizes. Whoever answered 2 questions correctly first won that round!