The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum is a railroad museum

Railway museum

A railway museum is a museum that explores the history of all aspects of rail related transportation, including: locomotives , railway cars, trams, and railway signalling equipment.See List of railway museums...

 in Tucson

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

.

The museum does not charge for admission. Guided tours of the facility are available for a small fee, by appointment only. The museum offers community events, downtown historic walking tours (October–March), railroad safety education, an oral history program and an active collections department preserving artifacts pertaining to transportation in southern Arizona.

Southern Pacific #1673 2-6-0 Mogul Locomotive

Southern Pacific locomotive #1673 is on display at the museum. The 2-6-0

2-6-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels. This arrangement is commonly called a Mogul...

 M-4b Mogul locomotive was built for the Southern Pacific Railroad by Schenectady Locomotive Works

Schenectady Locomotive Works

The Schenectady Locomotive Works built railroad locomotives from its founding in 1848 through its merger into American Locomotive Company in 1901.After the 1901 merger, ALCO made the Schenectady plant its headquarters in Schenectady, New York....

 (New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

) in November 1900. The locomotive is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.

Shops

• Central Bistro — inside the depot.

The depot lobby is currently used as a waiting room for rail passengers using Amtrak

Amtrak

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...

 passenger rail and the rest of the depot and buildings are leased to various businesses.

Location

The Southern Arizona Transportation Museum is located in the former records vault building at the former Southern Pacific

Southern Pacific Railroad

The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually simply called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American railroad....

 Depot

Train station

A train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...

, recently renovated by the City of Tucson in 2004.

External links

• Official Website of the Southern Arizona Transportation Museum.