Great Plains Transportation Museum

The Great Plains Transportation Museum incorporates in 1983 on Wichita’s Douglas Avenue, acquiring the assets of the former Great Plains Railway Museum that had closed in 1977 when Union Station was cleared for urban renewal. Volunteers fenced the outdoor display area in the summer of 1985, and the museum opened its doors to the public in December 1986, followed by a formal Grand Opening in June 1987. A street‑level entrance on Douglas opens in November 1999, expanding visitor access. In 2023 actor Michael Gross helped launch a fundraising drive for the cosmetic restoration of the museum’s 1967 Santa Fe diesel locomotive #93, and by 2025 the required funds were secured, with the locomotive scheduled to arrive in the summer of 2026. The museum hired its first paid employee, Director Lon Smith, in 2025, and in March 2026 announced the conversion of its 1953 stainless‑steel baggage car into an event venue; that same year the Kansas Legislature, at Smith’s urging, formally established the Kansas Railroad Hall of Fame at the museum.