Museum of the American Railroad - Educational Resources

Before your actual visit, you may want to use the internet to help students learn more about trains and the American railroad system. Possible sites to visit include:

http://www.amtrak.com

This site will introduce students to historic and modern rail travel in the United States. Here you can view the most modern equipment, plan a trip, and trace the route of the Texas Eagle.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/iron/

PBS On-Line offers many valuable resources for elementary and secondary teachers alike. At this particular site, teachers can download a teacher’s guide for instruction of the first transcontinental railroad. Site includes informative text and sample questions.

Boy Scouts of America Railroading Merit Badge Information

Books & Videos

There are many quality books and videos to help students understand the impact of the transportation revolution on American life. Listed below are titles that the Museum Store has for purchase:
Singing Rails: Railroadin’ Songs, Jokes & Stories
America's First Trans-Continental Railway: A Pictorial History of the Pacific Railroad
The Transcontinental Railroad
The History of American Railroads (VHS)
Super Trains: Understanding Trains and How They Work
Travel Through Time: Trains
All Aboard! The Legends of the Rails (VHS)
World's Fastest Trains (VHS)

In-Class Projects

Travel Journal Project
Create a travel log to record your trips from this past summer and for trips in the future.
1. Use an 8" x 11" piece of white paper. Have students design the front cover using paints, crayolas, or cut & paste from magazines.
2. Use travel journal template to create the journal pages.
3. Fold both the cover and journal pages to create a booklet.
4. Use a hole-punch and string to bind the journal.
5. Students can create their journal with memories from past trips or create imaginary trips!

Family History Project

Find out when your family moved to Texas. Trace your family's heritage
to learn what country they originated from.

1. Have students find out their family's heritage and how they came to Texas.

2. Create a family tree.

3. Have students create a time line of their family's history, including memorable moments (i.e. weddings, births, vacations, etc.).

4. Have students share a favored family tradition with the class.

Transportation Time line

Help students create a time line of transportation history. The time line can be a class project in which students work in groups to create their part. Groups can be subdivided into smaller time periods.
Group I 1800 - 1850
Group II 1850 - 1900
Group III 1900 - 1950
Before the steam train, how did Americans travel?
How did these inventions change the way in which Americans traveled? Worked? Transported goods?

Transportation Inventions & Inventors

Students can learn about the progression of technology in America and the impact those inventions had on society. Below is a small sampling of inventions and inventors that students can learn about:
Steam Engine - George Westinghouse
Link & Pin Coupler Vestibule
Knuckle Coupler - Matthias Baldwin
Eli H. Janney
J.B. Sutherland
The "T" Rail - Robert L. Stevens
George M. Pullman
Rudolph Diesel
Edward G. Budd
What impact did these inventions have on train travel?

How did some railroad-related inventions affect the daily lives of Americans?

Did you know that many Americans experienced electric lighting for the first time aboard a train?

Did you know that the railroad companies installed air-conditioning on their passenger trains in the mid-1930s? The first automobile equipped with air conditioning was in 1948.

Go West Young Man . . . .

We often think the American West was long ago and far away. One envisions gold prospectors, wild horses, and outlaws. But before all the lure of western folklore brought thousands of settlers west of the Mississippi, President Thomas Jefferson proved his craftsmanship as a statesman by purchasing Louisiana from France for a mere $15 million dollars! He then sent out Lewis & Clark to explore the navigable waterways to the Pacific Ocean to set up commercial trade.

The rise of cities and urban overcrowding created a longing for a simpler way of life, a life of open fields and greener pastures. When the government passed the Homestead Act in 1862 to encourage settlement in the west, the lure of free lands brought in pioneers by the thousands.

In addition to the passing of the Homestead Act, also came the Pacific Railway Act which provided for the construction of a transcontinental rail line. The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads paced each other as they built towards Promontory, Utah. The Union Pacific building west from Omaha, Nebraska and the Central Pacific building east from Sacramento. Constructed largely with Chinese labor, America's first transcontinental railroad opened the west to rapid settlement.

The Civil War interrupted the construction of the rail line, but by May of 1869 with the last spike driven, America was linked from East to West!

To bring immigrants westward, railroad companies promoted the free lands and offered low one-way fares for settlers. The immigrant trains were crude and not anything like the luxury trains of the late 19th century. The pioneer spirit persevered, however, and the American West was settled in a matter of decades. Important dates to remember:

1804 Under order of President Jefferson, the Lewis & Clark Expedition departs from St. Louis on May 14 to chart a course to the Pacific Ocean.

1841 First immigrant wagon train for California.

1849 California Gold Rush brings over 80,000 prospectors looking for gold

1861 On October 24th, the first transcontinental telegraph is completed

1862 Homestead Act passed

1869 America's first transcontinental railroad is completed with a golden spike ceremony at Promontory, Utah on May 10th