Transportation - Overview
Americans have always been a people on the move—on rails, roads, and waterways (for travel through the air, visit the National Air and Space Museum). In the transportation collections, railroad objects range from tools, tracks, and many train models to the massive 1401, a 280-ton locomotive built in 1926. Road vehicles include coaches, buggies, wagons, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and automobiles—from the days before the Model T to modern race cars. The accessories of travel are part of the collections, too, from streetlights, gas pumps, and traffic signals to goggles and overcoats.
In the maritime collections, more than 7,000 design plans and scores of ship models show the evolution of sailing ships and other vessels. Other items range from scrimshaw, photographs, and marine paintings to life jackets from the Titanic.
"Transportation - Overview" showing 592 items.
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Railroad Track Signal
- Description
- Railroad track signals are part of the control and management infrastructure of train movement. The railroad signal communicates to the operator of the train how to proceed to ensure safe movement. Early fixed signals involved hand signals, flags, and ball signals. With the spread of telegraph lines in the 1850s, train orders could be transmitted quickly from one stop to another. They were followed by automatic systems that developed with the introduction of electricity.
- This early type of banner signal, also known as an automatic block signal, was one of the first automatic signals to be used in the United States. It was manufactured by the Union Switch and Signal Company about 1880. The signal operated by a clockworks driven by a 100 lb. weight. The clockworks were set in motion by an electromagnet that was triggered by trains passing over a track-mounted switch.
- The signal consists of a box containing a clockwork mechanism. The roof of the box is a vertical spindle upon which are mounted two metal vanes, one painted green with a white striped border, and the other painted red. The box was mounted on a tall hollow iron pole in which the weight that operated the clockwork was suspended. This signal was used on the New York, New Haven & Hartford R.R. until about 1934.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- used by
- New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad Company
- maker
- Union Switch and Signal Company
- ID Number
- TR*308317
- catalog number
- 308317
- accession number
- 71800
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1931 Ford Model A roadster
- Description
- In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Ford Model A was one of the most publicized and best-selling cars in America. It was sporty, attractive, well-built, and smooth-running compared to the Model T, which it replaced in the 1928 model year. Thousands of people were eager to see for themselves that "Henry's made a lady out of Lizzie," and they stormed Ford showrooms when the Model A debuted on December 2, 1927. In less than two weeks there were 400,000 orders, and Henry Ford could not keep up with the demand for his latest "gift" to an increasingly mobile nation. Despite the onset of the Depression, Model A production remained strong at 1,261,053 cars in 1930 but fell to 626,579 cars in 1931, the last year that the Model A was produced. Donald E. Wolff donated this restored 1931 Ford to the Smithsonian in 1974.
- In the early 1920s, the plain, utilitarian Ford Model T far outsold other new cars and gave millions of working Americans the advantages of personal mobility. But by the mid-1920s, Ford's market share was shrinking because other automobile manufacturers offered stylish, sophisticated cars at low prices and enticements such as buying on credit. Henry Ford decided to replace the Model T with a new car that would attract as much attention as the "Tin Lizzie" once had. The much-anticipated 1928 Ford Model A was chic and sporty, and it had mechanical features that the Model T lacked: a three-speed, sliding-gear transmission, four-wheel brake system, and hydraulic shock absorbers. Sales were strong, but Ford never again dominated the new-car market as it had at the height of the Model T's popularity; Chevrolet, Plymouth, and other makes proved to be formidable rivals in the 1930s and beyond. In the 1932 model year, Ford replaced the Model A with a new line of cars featuring V-8 engines.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1931
- maker
- Ford Motor Company
- ID Number
- TR*335243
- catalog number
- 335243
- accession number
- 315444
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1912 Liberty-Brush Runabout
- Description
- Like Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer Alanson P. Brush encouraged people of ordinary means to give up horses, bicycles, and streetcars and buy cars. Brush emphasized small size and light weight as ways to reduce manufacturing costs and adapt cars to dirt roads that were alternately bumpy in dry weather and muddy in wet weather. Like Ford, he designed an automobile that was low-priced and suited to rural conditions. Introduced in 1907, the Brush automobile had a one-cylinder engine, a hardwood chassis frame, and tough, resilient hardwood axles and wheels. It featured innovations such as coil springs and shock absorbers, which smoothed the ride. The 1912 Liberty-Brush was a simplified version of the Brush runabout and was priced at $350. The Ethyl Corporation donated this Liberty-Brush runabout to the museum in 1976.
- In the early 1900s, the automobile became more than a rich person's toy. Demand was strong among farmers, workers, and the middle class. Used cars provided a less expensive alternative to new ones, but problems with quality, reliability, and parts availability limited their appeal. Several car manufacturers introduced new models that were affordable, dependable and designed for everyday use on country roads or city streets. Because of its wooden chassis and wooden axles, the Brush automobile (1907-13) was exceptionally lightweight and resilient. The small, one-cylinder Brush appealed to many motorists because of its simplicity, relatively low price, and chassis features that were well suited to rural roads. Wider axles were available for use in the South, where a 60-inch tread fit wagon ruts on country roads. Brush cars were fairly popular, but the company's financial difficulties and competition from better automobiles brought an end to the venture in 1913.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1912
- maker
- United States Motor Company, Brush Division
- ID Number
- TR*335591
- catalog number
- 335591
- accession number
- 323572
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1932 Packard phaeton
- Description
- This 1932 Packard phaeton is one of several luxury cars in the Smithsonian collection. It was first registered to Layton R. Colburn, sales manager at a Packard dealership in Washington, D.C. In 1933, Colburn sold it to Franklin Q. Brown, Jr., a Harvard-educated business administrator who had moved to Washington to take a job with the Public Works Administration. Brown later was employed as a railroad examiner for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and as an economist with a New York investment banking firm. In the early 1960s, after the Packard no longer served as Brown's primary transportation, he drove it at his summer home on Martha's Vineyard. Brown donated the car to the Smithsonian in 1978.
- The 1932 Packard Model 902 phaeton is a long, low, open car with a folding top. The body is black and has four doors. The car is rather massive at 4,300 pounds. The straight eight-cylinder engine developed 110 horsepower. Accessories include dual horns and a windshield wiper.
- In the early years of the Depression, the market for luxury automobiles shrank. By the early 1930s, Packard's annual production was only a fraction of its output at the height of the expansive, extravagant 1920s. But the company held onto a small, elite market, including the rich and famous as well as less affluent motorists who appreciated Packard's engineering advances and refinements. In 1932 Packard tried to broaden its market by introducing a moderately priced Light Eight in addition to the Standard Eight (shown here). This attempt to enter the mid-priced automobile market was unsuccessful because of high production costs. A loyal following of repeat customers enabled the company to survive the Depression and compete successfully with rivals Cadillac and Lincoln. Production by several other competitors in the luxury class-Cord, Duesenberg, Franklin, Marmon, Peerless, and Pierce-Arrow-ceased during the 1930s because of diminishing sales and financial difficulties.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1932
- maker
- Packard Motor Car Company
- ID Number
- TR*336637
- accession number
- 1978.0587
- catalog number
- 336637
- serial number
- 50160
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1914 Chevrolet roadster
- Description
- The 1914 Chevrolet Royal Mail roadster represents the early years of a make that a decade later would become the low-priced, mass-market leader in General Motors Corporation's varied array of cars. In 1914, Chevrolet cars were redesigned to compete with Ford and other makes vying for the low-priced market, which comprised working class and middle-class Americans. The Royal Mail and its larger companion, the Baby Grand touring car, were the first Chevrolet cars priced under $1,000. The Royal Mail body was considered streamlined and attractive. Its four-cylinder engine featured an overhead valve design, a Buick innovation that increased power; the OHV design reappeared on other GM cars during the next several decades. Alton M. Costley, a businessman who owned a Chevrolet dealership near Atlanta, donated this car to the Smithsonian in 1978.
- The 1914 Chevrolet Series H roadster, marketed as the Chevrolet Royal Mail, is an open car with a folding top and folding windshield. Like many "streamlined" cars of the day, its styling is smooth and uninterrupted and flows from front to back without projecting hardware or accessories. The gasoline tank is external, but it has a pleasing elliptical shape that complements the body. The hand-cranked engine has four cylinders and an overhead valve design.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Chevrolet Motor Car Company
- ID Number
- TR*336719
- catalog number
- 336719
- accession number
- 1978.1027
- serial number
- 11505
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1866 Dudgeon Steam Wagon
- Description
- The Dudgeon steam wagon is one of the earliest self-propelled road vehicles built in the United States. Richard Dudgeon, a machinist who was known for his commercially produced hydraulic jacks, designed and built a steam-powered wagon because he hoped to end the abuse and mistreatment of horses. The wagon resembles a small locomotive, but it has a steering wheel and seats for the driver and eight passengers. Dudgeon drove the vehicle on New York City streets and at his farm on Long Island. It burned coal and ran at a top speed of 25 to 30 miles per hour.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1866
- maker
- Dudgeon, Richard
- ID Number
- 1981.0328.01
- accession number
- 1981.0328
- catalog number
- 1981.0328.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Carpenter-Dodge School Bus, 1939
- Description
- This bus carried rural children to the Martinsburg, Indiana school in the 1940s. Busing enabled children to attend consolidated schools, which were larger than one-room schools and had better curricula, teachers, and facilities. All-steel school buses like this one were safer than earlier school buses, which had wooden bodies. The paint color, double deep orange, was common at the time, but yellow later became the standard color for school buses. This body was built by Carpenter Body Works of Mitchell, Indiana in 1936 and later was attached to a 1939 Dodge chassis.
- date made
- ca 1936-1939
- used date
- 1936-1946
- maker
- Carpenter Body Works, Inc.
- Dodge Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- 1982.0600.01
- accession number
- 1982.0600
- catalog number
- 1982.0600.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Kramer Farm Wagon
- Description
- Versatile, sturdy, and dependable, horse-drawn farm wagons were common in rural America well into the 1920s. They carried crops, goods, and supplies and served as passenger vehicles for families. Guy McCartney of Simpson, West Virginia used this wagon to deliver coal to area homes for furnaces and stoves. Built by the Kramer Wagon Company in Oil City, Pennsylvania, it is believed to date from the 1920s. During America’s first oil drilling boom in the late nineteenth century, Kramer also built wagons that hauled oil and carriages for wealthy oil businessmen.
- date made
- ca 1925
- maker
- Kramer Wagon Company
- ID Number
- 1984.0743.01
- catalog number
- 84.0743.01
- accession number
- 1984.0743
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Bread Box
- Description
- This box was used to transport loaves of bread by wagon or train from Meinburg's Bakery of Washington DC to establishments in the city and outlying counties. Delivering goods by rail meant a larger customer base for businesses like this bakery. After reaching its destination and unloaded, the grocery would return the box to the bakery where it was reloaded for another shipment.
- The box is constructed of wood with rope handles and could be carried by one person. The box is numbered so agents could track the shipment.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1890-1900
- ID Number
- 1985.0709.01
- accession number
- 1985.0709
- catalog number
- 1985.0709.01
- 85.0709.01
- accession number
- 1985.0709
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1955 Ford Country Squire Station Wagon
- Description
- In the 1950s, the station wagon became a staple of America's new suburban landscape and a ubiquitous extension of the suburban home. This car reveals how one family adopted a mobile, active lifestyle and how station wagons shaped family life.
- Between the 1920s and 1940s, station wagons evolved from small wooden buses to wood-trimmed utility vehicles that carried people, luggage, and recreational gear at rural estates, country clubs, and private schools . Strong demand for used "woodies" among postwar, middle-class families alerted manufacturers to a larger market. The introduction of all-steel bodies eliminated maintenance of wooden panels, and sales soared. Sedan-type styling made the station wagon look at home in suburban driveways. Imitation wood decals preserved the rural, elitist look of the 1940s.
- Suburban families found countless uses for their station wagons: taking children to school, picking up lawn and garden supplies, carrying home project materials, and enjoying day trips and vacations. The station wagon quickly became a symbol of family activity and intimacy in the outdoors. It served as a mobile living room at drive-in theaters, a mobile dining room at drive-in restaurants, and a home on wheels during camping trips.
- Nancy Harder, a southern California housewife, drove this car to schools and doctors with her five children. She and her husband George used it extensively. On family outings, the cargo area was filled with picnic baskets, rubber rafts, beach towels, skis, hula hoops, tricycles, radios, and, of course, the family dog. On vacation trips to national parks, this area served as a playpen. When the children were older, they learned to drive this car, and George taught them to wash and polish the exterior and vacuum the upholstery.
- After the children were grown, George used the station wagon to commute to work and haul materials for do-it-yourself projects. It also served as a spare car when the children came home from college.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1955
- user
- Harder, Nancy
- Harder, George
- maker
- Ford Motor Company
- ID Number
- 1989.0211.01
- accession number
- 1989.0211
- catalog number
- 1989.0211.01
- serial number
- U5LY-125372
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center