They might not get the same glory as art museums, but transportation museums can uniquely capture a destination’s story.
Guest column by Chris Dong
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Whether I’m sardine-canned on a Sri Lankan public bus, pretzel-legged in the last row of a tiny plane in Nicaragua or perched atop a Hong Kong “ding ding” tram, the journey for me is as important as the destination. I am a transportation aficionado, after all.
But to see the full color of somewhere you visit, I’ve learned you can’t just take the ride. You have to immerse yourself in the history of it, too — at a transportation museum.
They might not get the same glory as art museums, but transportation museums can uniquely capture the history of a city or country, telling the story of movement to, from and within it. Each one showcases a patchwork of subway lines, airline routes and intercity bus networks connecting people for work and play. Over the years, I’ve visited so many of these exhibits, from London’s Transport Museum to Istanbul’s Rahmi M. Koc Museum to Hong Kong’s Maritime Museum.
While these museums aren’t everywhere, about 400 exist around the world. Their displays, no matter the city or country, are as much about showcasing engineering accomplishments (like the first flight-worthy Boeing 747) as they are about understanding a region’s culture.
Transport museums provide an interactive time capsule of what daily life was once like, and insights into how migration and gentrification changed it. At the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn — the largest transportation museum in the United States — you can witness how the city grew outward as entire neighborhoods and outer boroughs were connected to Manhattan. Hop from one preserved vintage subway car to another, or go back more than a century and board a retired city streetcar, which locals had to “dodge” thanks to their erratic, at first horse-powered movement. (An iconic city sports team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, memorialized that quirk in its name.)
Some galleries and displays highlight national pride and identity. Over the years, Japan has become synonymous with the safety, punctuality and efficiency of its transportation grid. It’s a reflection of the country’s collectivist culture. At Kyoto’s Railway Museum, modern high-speed Shinkansen trains, and their many predecessors, are laid out on tracks for the public to board and experience. Need we remind you that the country’s train system will apologize for being 25 seconds off schedule?
In Switzerland, I climbed aboard cable cars and mountain railways at the country’s most visited museum, the Museum of Transport in Lucerne. Inside, you can climb aboard a replica of the Stoosbahn, the steepest funicular railway in the world and a monument to Swiss engineering prowess and ingenuity. At Seattle’s Museum of Flight, I stood in awe at the mechanical wonders of aviation and modern air travel. The onset of the jet age transformed the world, and here I was seeing its evolution from a twin-engine Lockheed Model 10 Electra that Amelia Earhart piloted to the modern Boeing and Airbus aircraft that take us around the world today.
Whether it’s by motorbike, tuk-tuk, Land Cruiser or glass-bottom monorail, the need for transportation is as universal as it gets. Investing in it is investing in the future. Next time you visit a city with a transit museum, discover the past that brought you there.
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