All Aboard! Last Stop, St. Louis

These are the last of the locomotive photos, (plus one airplane), from our visit to the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis Missoui.



This is a 2-8-2 USRA Light Mikado type freight locomotive that was built in 1928 by the Lima Locomotive Works. Thousands were built. This was considered the Workhorse of the railroads. During WWII, since Japan was our enemy, they were renamed to "MacArthur".


This 0-6-0 switching locomotive was built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1896. In 1923, it's appearance was changed by adding a new boiler. In 1941, it was sold to the East St. Louis Junction Railroad, serving the stockyards. In the early 1950's, it was purchased by St. Louis Material & Supply...remaining in use moving hopper cars full of gravel until 1963. It was the last conventional steam locomotive to operate regularly in the St. Louis area. Hard to believe...67 years of service!



This is a Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 "Big Boy". It was built in 1941 at a cost of $265,000 by the American Locomotive Company. This is one of only 25 built. The "Big Boys" were the largest successful steam locomotives ever built. They weighed 600 tons and measured 132' 9 1/4" long. They carried 33 tons of coal and 25,000 gallons of water.

This is the "Daniel Nason". It was built in the Boston & Providence Railroad Shops in 1858. This is the only surviving example of a locomotive that has the steam cylinders inside the locomotive. This style of wood burning engine was popular before the Civil War.

Many of the locomotives at the Museum of Transportation are sheltered in shed like the one shown here. While this is very good from a preservation point of view, it does mean that there were many locomotives and a lot of rolling stock that couldn't easily be photographed. I have good photos of a dozen or so engines, but this is just a fraction of the 70 locomotives that this museum owns.

At the entrance to the museum, they have a WWII vintage C-47. (The military version of the DC-3) There is also a river tow boat that used to operate out of Kansas City MO. Another building contains a small collection of automobiles. Of course, there is also a gift shop.

The Museum of Transportation is located at 3015 Barrett Station Road in St. Louis, Missouri. Phone: 314-965-6885. Web Site: http://www.museumoftransport.org/.