Tuesday, May 8, 2018

minnesota transportation museum

What do you get when you encourage your kiddos to learn and be curious?

Sometimes it's creative stories featuring characters of all sorts.

Sometimes it's piles of non-fiction books on topics you've never cared for before.

Sometimes, it's demands like, "I want to ride a real, train, Mom--not the one at the mall!!" When did three-year-olds get so smart?


When Titus said this, I'd been looking for local train rides for the past six months--to no avail. They were either too far away, too long, or too expensive.

In a last desperate attempt to find anything, I googled something along the lines of "ride a train near me." By God's grace, the Minnesota Transportation Museum (MTM; 193 Pennsylvania Avenue, Saint Paul) appeared on the top of the list.


Compared to various events (like "A Day with Thomas) and activities (like a trip via Union Station), MTM offers the dream for any parent with train-loving children: locality; admission to a museum (with various coloring, crafting, and play stations); story time (check the website for specific times); a gift shop; and a short train ride (about 15 minutes; check the website for specific times).


There are also all sorts of trains to explore, a train diorama with two battery-powered trains, and other relics from years past (we got to try out a typewriter!). If you're hungry, there are hot dogs and cotton candy for sale on site.

Right before you head out to the waiting area to board the train, there's a patio with plenty of tables and chairs. You can bring your own food and dine here in the shade or sun.


In the train yard is the waiting area to board the train. There's a single bench here--sans shade (we caught the 1230 train ride and the heat and scorching sun were unbearable).

Most of the train yard that's open for exploration houses several trains. You can walk around the trains and look at them in detail up close (there's no inside access to these, though).


For our train ride we had the option of riding in a caboose or passenger car. We boarded both just to see what there was to see and settled on taking the passenger car for our trip.

The ride is short and sweet, long enough to give my kiddos the train-riding experience without inducing restless-toddler syndrome.


My husband and I, neither train nor history buffs, both enjoyed our trip to MTM. We had fun learning about and seeing the different types of trains and train cars (story time is on a Power Point--which we thought was brilliant).

My kiddos loved pretty much everything about MTM except for the wait time for the train ride (there was a 15-minute delay). They enjoyed playing with the various toys and putting together projects at the crafts tables (complete with stickers for sticker-happy kiddos).


On Saturdays (the only day they offer train rides), admission for each adult costs $13  and admission for each child (ages 5-15) costs $11. Toddlers (ages 2-4) cost $6 and kids 1 and younger are free. We loved that they also offer a family deal (2 adults and 2-4 children) at $35. For all we saw and did, it was a great price.

We highly recommend a visit to MTM if your kiddo has upped the ante on train rides or simply loves all things trains. Make sure to grab one of those adorable conductor hats if you do!

No comments:

Post a Comment