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.
Museum Exhibits
Analyzing the legacy of the Transcontinental Railroad. Exploring solutions to Bay Area traffic. Simulating the Wright Brothers' historic flight in 1903. Programming miniature robots to simulate the technology inside self-driving cars. Solving an Amtrak-themed escape room.
Over the past 13 years, The Transportation Museum's exhibits have spanned various modes of transportation, time periods, and locales — each including thought-provoking information and hands-on activities to appeal to museum visitors of all ages.
This Month's Featured Exhibit: GET A R1DE
Each month, The Transportation Museum highlights one of its past exhibits, making some of the content shown in the museum available to visitors online, in the form of videos, documents, and more. This month's exhibit, GET A R1DE, compares taxis with ride hailing services like Uber and Lyft, analyzing components like the cost of travel, safety, and more.
Exhibits Archive
Over the past 13 years, the museum has maintained its goal of presenting guests with all-new exhibits each year — so visitors have enjoyed countless exhibits over the years! A short description of each display, from the 6th Annual Transportation Museum in 2013 (at right, the Bricksboro exhibit highlighting two types of bridges made from K'NEX and LEGOs, in 2013), to the present, has been added to the museum's website. Explore the vast changes in the content and design of each exhibit over the years on our Exhibits Archive.
Online Exhibits
Just because The Transportation Museum isn't open doesn't mean you can't learn more about transportation! Stay updated on the exciting world of transportation by browsing through the museum's online-only exhibits, featuring an in-depth look at topics from previous museum exhibits.
Looking to browse through some of the museum's other previous exhibits?
In addition to this month's Featured Exhibit, various other displays are available online, including the three exhibits below from the museum's earlier years. Click the exhibits below to read through the information online, including links to videos and additional details. To see a list of all the museum's previous exhibits, click here to view the Exhibits Archive >
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