The National Museum of Transportation (TNMOT) is a private, 42-acre transportation museum in Kirkwood, Missouri. Founded in 1944, it restores, preserves, and displays vehicles from the late 1800s to the present: mainly locomotives and railroad equipment, but also cars, aircraft, and a boat. The museum contains a research library of transportation-related memorabilia and documents.
At the southwest corner of the property is West Barretts Tunnel. Built in 1853, it is one of a pair of tunnels that were the first to operate west of the Mississippi River. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
The museum has its own railway spur to an active main line formerly owned by the Missouri Pacific Railroad, now by the Union Pacific Railroad. This has allowed the museum to take possession of large and unusual pieces of railroad equipment. A miniature railroad operates around a loop of track near the parking lot. A restored trolley operates ThursdayâÂÂSunday from March through December.
A working trolley line was established in the 1990s after the museum acquired SLPS #1743 from the San Francisco Municipal Railway. A group of volunteers installed about 1,000 feet of overhead wire above a section of the former Union Pacific mainline near the Abbott Building, allowing restored historical trolleys to operate. In 1998, PTC #2740 was restored by Museum of Transportation Trolley Volunteers and added to the operating fleet, while #1743 was placed in storage.
In 1997, MTTV began renovating Water Works #10, at first cosmetically, and then mechanically. After three and a half years of work, #10 became operational once again. On Memorial Day 2001, it ran for the first time in 46 years; by the summer of 2002, it had joined the museum's active fleet.
Originally, the demonstration trolley line was a straight route, requiring trolleys to travel back and forth. Volunteers added a loop at the east end after the museum acquired some tracks from a streetcar loop in Boston. Construction began in spring 2002 and was completed in March 2003. All trolleys except #2740 can run around the loop and back from the direction it came. Around the same time, a high-level platform was built in front of the Roberts Pavilion to accommodate the newly acquired CTA rapid transit car #44 for passenger loading and unloading.
In 2011, MTTV began adding track to connect the line to the Lindburg Automobile Center, enabling visitors to ride the trolley between the Roberts building and the automotive exhibits. The project remains uncompleted as of 2025.
On May 21, 2016, SLPS #1743 returned to service on the 50th anniversary of the end of streetcar operations in St. Louis. In 2024, the line was named the Neil F. Norkaitis Demonstration Trolley Line after the former trolley operations director.
Among its railroad items are:
The Earl C. Lindburg Automotive Center contains 25 vehicles, including:
Aircraft on display at the museum include a C-47 Skytrain at the main gate, a T-33 Shooting Star, and, since 2024, the first production F/A-18 Super Hornet, E1. In late 2025, the museum announced it would add a Harrier jump jet.
In 2021, the museum opened a permanent exhibition of some 100 model airplanes donated by Sanford McDonnell, each with a connection to the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation.
A Missouri River towboat is also on display.