Minnesota Transportation Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Minnesota Transportation Museum

The Minnesota Transportation Museum's Jackson Street Roundhouse
Established	1962 (1962)
Location	Saint Paul, Minnesota
Type	Transportation museum

The Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM) is a cool place in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It's a museum all about different ways people have traveled!

MTM helps keep old trains, buses, and streetcars safe. They want to make sure we remember the history of transportation in Minnesota. The museum started in 1962. Its first big project was saving an old streetcar. Many early members were part of a group that loved trains.

In 2004 and 2005, the museum's streetcar part became its own museum. It's now called the Minnesota Streetcar Museum. Also, a historic steamboat called Minnehaha became a big part of the Museum of Lake Minnetonka.

Minnehaha Depot: A Historic Train Station

The Minnehaha Depot in Minnehaha Park

After the first streetcar was fixed up, the museum looked for other projects. One of these was the Minnehaha Depot.

The Minnehaha Depot is an old train station near Minnehaha Falls. It was built in 1875. People called it "The Princess" because of its pretty design. This depot is a special historic building. Sometimes, special trains have stopped here. It even became part of the streetcar system later on.

The Minnesota Historical Society owns the depot. The Minnesota Transportation Museum takes care of it. In 1967, it was the first building the museum restored. They added exhibits inside. In 2004, the METRO Blue Line train opened nearby. Its Minnehaha Park station is right across the road.

Osceola and St. Croix Valley Railway: Ride a Historic Train

The MTM also runs a special old-fashioned train ride. It's called the Osceola and St. Croix Valley Railway. This railway is in Osceola, Wisconsin.

You can ride these trains on tracks that used to belong to another railway company. The trains leave from the old Osceola Depot. They travel north to Dresser, Wisconsin, or south through the beautiful St. Croix River Valley. Train rides usually start in May and run until the end of October. They also have special trips like "Pumpkin Train" rides for Halloween!

At the Osceola area, you can see several old trains and cars. All the equipment is fixed up and ready to go. This includes old coaches from the 1920s and a refreshment car. The trains running now are classic diesel-electric engines.

In the past, a classic steam engine, Northern Pacific No. 328, pulled the trains. But it's very old (over 107 years!). So, it's now being restored.

A regular train ride to Dresser, Wisconsin, takes about 50 minutes. A ride to Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, takes about 100 minutes.

The museum also takes care of the Dresser Depot. This station looks just like the staff stepped out for a break! It's also where the "Pumpkin Train Park" is. Thousands of people visit it around Halloween.

Jackson Street Roundhouse: A Working Museum

The turntable at the Jackson Street Roundhouse

The Jackson Street Roundhouse is the main place for MTM in St. Paul. It's a real, working roundhouse. This means it's a circular building where trains are stored and fixed. It's one of the last ones like it in the country! In winter, volunteers work here. You might see sparks flying from welding and grinding.

The Roundhouse is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays all year. It's also open on Fridays during the summer. It's where the museum's trains and cars are repaired. It's a very hands-on place. You can even take train rides on Saturdays! There are also exhibits about transportation history in Minnesota.

The Great Northern Railway built this building in 1907. But trains have been using this spot since the 1860s. The Roundhouse shows how American industry worked from the 1800s to the mid-1900s.

Many different types of equipment are kept at the Roundhouse. This includes old Pullman coaches and mail cars. There's also a huge turntable that can turn trains around. A giant crane can lift 200 tons! You can also see an F7A Freight engine being restored. The famous Northern Pacific Railway steam engine No. 2156 is also here. Many kids from the 1960s and 70s knew it as Casey Jones's engine from a TV show. Engine No. 2156 is being worked on to become part of a "Steam Bay" exhibit. This exhibit will show how steam locomotives work. It will be next to its sister engine, No. 2153, which has been restored to look like it did when it was running.

Train Equipment: What the Museum Has

The museum has many different types of trains.

Steam Locomotives

These are trains that run on steam power.

Locomotive details

Locomotive	Type	Built	Retired	Acquired	Status	Image
Northern Pacific #328	Class S-10 4-6-0	Alco, 1905	1950	Leased 1976	Display
Northern Pacific #2153	Class Q-3 4-6-2	Baldwin, 1909	1950s	Donated 2000	Under cosmetic restoration
Northern Pacific #2156	Class Q-3 4-6-2	Baldwin, 1909	1950s	Leased 1980 - Purchased Later	Under restoration

Diesel Locomotives

These trains run on diesel engines.

Locomotive details

Locomotive	Type	Built	Retired	Acquired	Location	Status	Image
Andersen Windowalls #3110	EMD SW1	1949	2000	Donated 2001	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Operational
Burlington Northern #6234 (Colorado & Southern #839)	EMD SD9	1959	2003	Donated 2003	Osceola and St. Croix Valley RY	Operational
Chicago Burlington & Quincy #9735	EMD PMC	1929	?	Purchased 1984	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Stored, awaiting restoration
Dan Patch #100	GE 57-Ton	1913	1967	Donated 1967	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Display
General Mills #7176	GE 35-Ton	1962	2018	Donated 2018	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Under restoration
Great Northern #325	EMD SDP40	1966	2008	Donated 2009	Osceola and St. Croix Valley RY	Operational
Great Northern #454-A	EMD F7A	1950	1981	2003	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Stored, awaiting restoration
Great Northern #558	EMD SD7	1952	1983	Donated 2017	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Stored, awaiting restoration
Lake Superior Terminal & Transfer #101	EMD NW2	1948	?	?	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Stored
Northern Pacific (LST&T) #105	EMD SW1200	1957	?	1987	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Operational
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe #2627 (MNTX #454)	EMD CF7	1946	2015	2020	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Stored, as a spare parts provider
Northern States Power NSP-5	GE 45-Ton	1951	20xx	2023	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Under restoration
Soo Line #559 (Rock Island #1223)	EMD GP7	1951	1997	Purchased 1998	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Operational
US Navy #10106	GE 45-Ton	1942	?	?	Jackson Street Roundhouse	Operational

Passenger Cars

These are the cars where people ride.

Cabooses

Cabooses are the last car on a freight train.

• Burlington Northern #11214
• Chicago, Burlington & Quincy #13500
• Great Northern #X71
• Milwaukee Road #992040
• Northern Pacific #1264
• Northern Pacific #1631
• Soo Line #31

Service & Miscellaneous Equipment

These are other special vehicles used for railway work.

• Great Northern #X1735 Derrick Wrecking Crane
• Northern Pacific #30 Russel Snow Plow

Images for kids

• 

  The Minnesota Transportation Museum used this classic General Motors bus for the Blue Line light rail opening in June 2004.

• 

  An older Mack bus behind the Jackson Street Roundhouse