Opened in 1964 to help preserve artifacts and information about the varied elements of San Antonio’s fascinating transportation history. In 1967 the museum moved to is present location on 40 acres in McAllister Park, just north of the International Airport on Wetmore Road. The museum’s mission statement is “Texas Transportation Museum is a volunteer lead organization that collects, preserves and displays transportation equipment and related items. We operate a working passenger railroad, several model train layouts and many road vehicles. We provide an educational and entertaining experience which interprets how developments in transportation technology shaped and continue to impact daily life.”

I took my two sons (8 and 14) here on a Saturday not really expecting much. Boy were we surprised. The volunteers that were working that day made the experience. From the nice lady working the ticket counter, the crew of the train ride and the nice guy that made sure we got on the last fire engine ride of the day. They all took the time to talk to and answer the questions of my youngest even when they were kind of random and really nothing to do with the museum. I highly recommend a stop at The Texas Transportation Museum It will this hour and a half to two hours will be well worth your time.

Along with buggies, fire engines, cars and running trains, the museum has a several large model railroad displays. The displays cover the gambit in scale from N to G with several trains running on each display. The HO Scale display is very large. My boys really thought the garden display which is outside was really neat. This is the largest public G, or garden scale outdoor layout in Texas.

We are looking forward to “Halloween Spook-track-ula” at the Texas Transportation Museum. It is designed for younger children so it’s a little scary but not too frightening. The huge site is dressed up for the show and so are most of our volunteers. You can ride on the “Transylvania Express,” walk through the “Ghost Train,” take a haunted train ride, plus see the whole museum in an entirely new, spooky, way.

Another special event at the museum is Santa’s Railroad Wonderland is an extravaganza of Christmas activities. There are night time train and hay rides. Just about every part of the forty acre site is decorated, from the historic depot, the trains, the garden railroad, the three other scale model railroad layouts and everything else in between. They have their own character, Choo Choo Claus. Bring your camera and make your own Christmas memories.

You can get more information about the Texas Transportation Museum on their website (http://www.txtransportationmuseum.org/index.php ). Generally the Museum is open Friday thru Sunday with train rides Saturday and Sunday. Admission is very reasonable between $6.00 and $8.00 for an adult depending on the day. There are discounts for senior citizens and military. There are also discounts associated with various events throughout the year, such as the school supply drive.