The Transportation Museum Andrew Mancini, Director
The Transportation Museum is a one-day event each year that features 10 or more unique exhibits that combine interactivity and education. There are different exhibits each year. Each exhibit relates to transportation. The museum in September 2016 was the 9th annual museum.
This website allows you to explore the different exhibits, collections, and photos throughout the year. If you would like to know more about the museum, contact us.
What is the Transportation Museum?
What can I expect to see at the exhibits?
Each exhibit is both educational and interactive. All of the museum's exhibits are for kids and adults. For example, in the Float Your Boat exhibit at the 2016 museum, guests learned why boats float and what buoyancy and water displacement is, while trying to build a boat with the most cargo containers.
You can also explore the other museum exhibits.
In recent years, there have been 10-15 different exhibits at each museum. The 8th and 9th museums were located at the Multi-Use Room at Brittan Acres Elementary School. Before then, the museums were located at Andrew's house. However, the museum outgrew the house and expanded.
How big is the museum?
What if I don't like transportation?
Don't worry—you'll still enjoy the museum! If you don't like transportation, you'll probably learn even more from the exhibits. Whether you're a kid or adult, the exhibits will interest you. There are many different parts of the museum that anyone will enjoy. At the 2016 museum, some of these interactive parts included searching through a suitcase for transportation collectibles, tasting "astronaut" ice cream, matching hotel logos with hotel brands, driving a remote-controlled bus, playing a fantastic bus driver simulation game, watching scenes from transportation movies, flying a plane, building a boat, and taking a boat ride on the museum's "ride," The Glades Runner Airboat Experience.
Click through each of the museum's exhibits and you'll see that any guest will enjoy the museum.
How did the museum start?
As a young child, Andrew loved transportation of all kinds, especially trains. By age 6, he had memorized all the stations on the Caltrain line and all the train engine numbers.
When he was 5, in the summer of 2008, Andrew started The Transportation Museum at his house, inviting his neighbors and friends over. The first few museums occurred over the summer.
To expand the museum's collection, in 2013, Andrew wrote letters to transit agencies from the 40 largest cities, by population, in the U.S. Over 75% of the transit agencies wrote back, sending schedules, maps, and fun items branded with their logo. You can see these items in the museum's collection. Andrew also wrote letters to transit agencies from California and Nevada, and many sent items back, too.
In 2015, the museum moved to Brittan Acres Elementary School. The number of exhibits increased, and attendance reached 100 people in one day. Both adults and kids visited and enjoyed the museum. The largest exhibit at the museum was Around the World with Trip Planning.
The museum in September 2016 was once again a hit, with unique exhibits. There were exhibits on space travel, travel between San Francisco and Los Angeles (including the history of motels, a comparison of cost and timing by driving, flying, or taking a bus or train between the two cities, and what's planned for California's High Speed Rail), aeronautics, and more.
There will certainly be a 2017 museum, though the date has not yet been finalized. The 10th annual museum will probably take place in late September. When the date is decided, it will be posted on the museum website. Until then, enjoy browsing around at past museum exhibits on this website.
