Pumpers & Pistons, Community Helpers, Plein Air Day/Museum Activities

Pumpers & Pistons, Community Helpers, and Plein Air Day is Saturday, May 17, 2025!

Today is extra special with our Pumpers & Pistons, Community Helpers, and Plein Air Day events. We hope you’ll be excited to see fire trucks of all sorts; a helicopter fly in that you can tour inside after it lands; police vehicles; military vehicles; BIG trucks; search and rescue dogs in action; treats for the kids; artists rendering our artifacts to canvas live, and so much more! All of this is included with normal admission. Go here for more information for all nine vehicle-related events being held in 2025 at the Museum.

Today we are celebrating those who labor for our communities, especially in infrastructure and safety work. We are a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) history museum, so we’ll have specialists from all those disciplines on campus, ready and willing to answer questions and interact with our guests of all ages. We believe learning is a lifelong endeavor to love and pursue.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We invite you to come visit the National Museum of Transportation! Full of photographic opportunities, historic artifacts, model trains and aircraft, the first F/A-18 E1 Super Hornet, and a Virgin Hyperloop Pegasus pod from the Smithsonian, the Museum is open Monday through Sunday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., subject to close due to inclement weather. TNMOT is primarily an outdoor facility. Please call 314.289.3508, ext. 4, for weather updates.

Our knowledgeable tour guides are available in the Earl C. Lindburg Automobile Center to answer your questions about our vintage vehicles. Public guided tours are available at 10 a.m. each open day, weather permitting, no reservation required. Much of our extensive 70-piece locomotive collection is covered under the Roberts Pavilion, plus more nearby, for safe exploring. A tour guide is on hand at the pavilion ready to reply to your inquiries.

The Wm F. Ross Special Miniature Train

The Wm. F. Ross Special Miniature Train operates rides twice around a substantial portion of TNMOT’s property, with knowledgeable and friendly conductors narrating the trip. Train tickets are $7 extra for unlimited rides available on Saturday from 9:20 a.m. – 3:20 p.m., weather and mechanicals permitting.

The Trolley

The historic trolley/streetcar rides are free with Museum admission. The trolley is operated by experienced volunteer conductors Thursday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m., subject to weather, mechanicals, car and crew availability.