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.
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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.
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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 > Transportation Museum Article
Transportation Museum Article
February 1, 2018
The Transportation Museum's online exhibits are based on previous museum exhibits or similar, transportation-related exhibits found online, in the media, in other museums, or something else. This exhibit highlights an article published in the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum's newsletter about The Transportation Museum. Have an idea for an online exhibit? Contact the museum and use "Online Exhibit" in the subject line.
Background
Before the 10th Annual Transportation Museum, museum director Andrew Mancini visited 11 other museums​ between San Francisco and Sunnyvale. At each museum, he took notes on the exhibits and then interviewed a volunteer or employee at the museum to learn more about the museum. The goal of the visits was to learn how other museums work, particularly how they design exhibits and how they market themselves to the public. From these visits, Andrew created a 5-year plan for the museum to improve the quality of the exhibits and to attract more visitors. One of the museums he visited was the Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum (see below for more information). A volunteer at the Sunnyvale museum, Katharina Woodman, and her husband, attended the 10th Annual Transportation Museum, similarly taking photos and going through each of the exhibits. Ms. Woodman wrote a short article about her experience at the museum and it was published in the Sunnyvale Historical Society and Museum Association's January/February 2018 newsletter, online and in print.
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Click here to view the museum newsletter. Scroll down to page 8 or click Ctrl+F to find the article titled "Who says museums are just for old fogeys?"
Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum
The Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum is a two-story, local history museum located in Heritage Park, in a residential neighborhood in San Carlos. The museum explores the history of Sunnyvale, from the first settlers in the area to the town today. Andrew visited the museum in early 2017 and really enjoyed the realistic dioramas, mural room, and friendly volunteers.
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The museum is located at 570 East Remington Drive in Sunnyvale and it is open on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Click here to visit the museum's website.
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Curious about other interesting attractions throughout the Bay Area? Click here!
