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.
Exhibits > Online Exhibits
Online Exhibits
Just because The Transportation Museum isn't open doesn't mean that you can't explore more in the world of transportation. In the museum's Online Exhibits gallery, you can learn more about transit current events and discover additional insights into your favorite past Transportation Museum exhibits.
In partnership with Amtrak
Explore Amtrak's updated PDF timetables, complete with station and route services, thruway connecting bus schedules, and more. Timetables are currently available for the Heartland Flyer, Missouri River Runner, Southwest Chief, and Texas Eagle.
In partnership with Amtrak
To engage and educate passengers along Amtrak's Texas Eagle route between Chicago and San Antonio, the National Park Service and Texas A&M University developed a series of podcast episodes to narrate historical and scenic points of interest. Today, The Transportation Museum houses this collection of episodes for Amtrak travelers.
Based on SF → LA (The Transportation Museum, 2016)
For a research project and potential future museum exhibit, Museum Director Andrew Mancini is collecting data points for an investigation measuring how California's geography and transportation infrastructure will influence the success of high-speed rail. You are invited to take a short survey to share your perspective on high-speed rail in the state.
Based on The Mail Must Go Through! (The Transportation Museum, 2015)
Learn about the Wells Fargo stagecoach, communication aided by the telegraph, and the Pony Express, three inventions of the mid-19th century that helped to develop the West and forever changed our nation's history. Portions of this online exhibit come from the Wells Fargo History Museum in Old Town Sacramento.
Based on SF → LA (The Transportation Museum, 2016)
On March 9, 2018, the California High-Speed Rail Authority published its biennial business plan. Among the changes, the cost has risen to $77.3 billion (double the original plan), the system has extended construction by 3 years, and the travel time between San Francisco, the Central Valley, and Los Angeles has increased.
Based on Amtrak (The Transportation Museum, 2014)
Amtrak, America's national passenger rail service, has always been threatened by federal budget cuts. But President Trump's budget proposal for the 2019 U.S. Budget, released in February 2018, threatened to eliminate many of Amtrak's scenic, long-distance routes. Thankfully, over $2 billion in funding was passed to keep Amtrak alive.
Based on The Transportation Museum's History
The Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum, a local history museum located in Sunnyvale, wrote a short article about The Transportation Museum in their January/February 2018 newsletter, following the visit of two of their docents to the 10th Annual Transportation Museum. Read the article, and learn more about the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum.