Going to St Louis Transportation Museum - Any other suggestions?


NScaler

NScaler

Engineer in Training
I was wondering if anyone in or near St Louis has any suggestions for other things to do in the St Louis area (besides the Arch and Zoo). We have a family of 5 and am looking for things fun for the kids which are 2, 7, and 13.

Thanks for any suggestions. I will be watching for replies on the way there from Indy.
 
Busch Stadium would be my first choice if the Cardinals are in town!

I've missed your posts or I have not seen them, either way I'm glad to hear from you Kevin
 
That would be fun. I have taken a break for awhile. Spring has me working on my Mustang and tge yard so I haven't been on the PC much. I'm still here though.

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Im a few days late, but the Transportation museum is awesome. They actually have a big boy. And railfanning at the Kirkwood depot (same town as museum) is awesome. The St. Louis Zoo is good and free. And Busch stadium is always a good time. Also just north of the arch in Laclede's Landing is a neat wax museum. If you like bbq, Pappy's Smokehouse is awesome too.

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I agree with Steve too, the City Museum and Aquarium are awesome for kids, they will love it.

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There's a few things I'm going to suggest. First being the Magic House. Great for kids and LOTS of fun stuff.

http://www.magichouse.org/?utm_source=AdWords&utm_medium=grant&utm_campaign=AdwordsGrant

And then there's also the Science Center. Lot's of great information and learning for the kids.

http://www.slsc.org/

The Botanical Garden is pretty cool too!

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/

And lastly, if you want to see some cool model train stuff, our club (St. Charles Model Railroad Club) is out in O'Fallon, not too far from the city.

http://www.stcharlesrailroadclub.com/

The club layout is a free exhibit open to the public every Friday evening between the hours of 7PM and 9PM and Saturdays and Sundays between the hours of 1PM and 5PM.

Have fun and welcome to The Lou! :)
 
Go check the Y6a at the museum, because its going to VMT for a few years. Perhaps give us a visual report on its looks/condition.
 
There aren't any life size, but there is a very small layout area with ho and a few other sizes. Honestly, and sadly, that mall has gone way down hill and is sort of ghetto these days.

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clayguthrie said:
There aren't any life size, but there is a very small layout area with ho and a few other sizes. Honestly, and sadly, that mall has gone way down hill and is sort of ghetto these days.

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Click to expand...

That's really too bad. It was a very nice place 25 years ago.
 
The building is definitely worth seeing. The tracks are still there in the parking lot and building and there is a neat pond outside. But It's kind of in a akward spot for a mall though, but there are a few shops in there and a hotel. But it has a new owner in the last year so they might have plans for it.

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I can second city museum, the magic house, the MO botanical garden, and seeing Union Station for the building and relics of its railroading days (the mall, not so much...)

Old town St. Charles is also a nice place to stroll, visit quirky shops and have a sidewalk lunch.
 
Sirfoldalot made a good suggestion on Union Station, really neat shops and was a small train display there at one time. Also, the City Museum is a lot of fun for the whole family, we had a blast when we went with our grandkids. The St. Louis Zoo is one of the best. The Arch is really neat to ride to the top but you want to get there FIRST THING in the morning when they open to avoid long lines. The river front can be interesting as well, especially for eating establishments. Have fun!
 
If you do go to Union Station, be sure to go up into the Grand Hall. It's been beautifully restored. A lot of people don't even realize it's there because the way up to it isn't readily obvious from the mall area. Here are some pics of it....
https://www.google.com/search?q=gra...C8GcyATgv4Aw&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=635
There are a couple of large steam engine models on display that were built by a local man. I'm not sure of the scale, but it's probably about twice the size of G scale.

[Trivia factoid] The Grand Hall was the setting for the fight scene in the movie Escape From New York starring Kurt Russell. Here's a still from the movie...
http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/xenophon38/21801168/42633/42633_original.jpg


There doesn't seem to be much of anything on display outside on the tracks. I just looked at Bing maps and the tracks were empty in two of the views. At one time there was a nice display. They had Frisco #1522, but it's been moved to the Museum of Transport. They also had an Alco S2, an F unit, and some '50s era passenger cars.
 
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Sorry I didn't reply sooner. My phone went dead and my USB port has decided to stop working. Anyway, we had a good time. We started off going to the transportation museum. I got to climb aboard my favorite engine - the 4-8-8-4. There were a lot of cool trains and passenger cars to look at as well. We got a tour through one of the passenger trains and everyone loved seeing how people traveled back in the day. Fun little place. And the kids loved the little train ride around the grounds.

We also went up in the Arch and did the river boat ride. The arch was great. But I would suggest anyone wanting a good river ride to try the one in Chattanooga at the Tennessee aquarium (which is amazing by the way).

We also went to the zoo. They had the same trains there hauling people around, but they were a lot more crowded. The zoo was packed, it was hot, and the animals didn't move around much. But I didn't blame them at all. That is a great zoo. But I hear Nashville is building theirs up to be the largest one in the US (or was it the world?) over the next ten years.

All in all St Louis was a lot of fun. There are a lot of things to do there. Thanks guys for all your suggestions. When we go back I will try a few other places mentioned here.
 
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