It’s finally time – Greenfield Village re-opens this Friday, April 15! All this week, we’ll focus on some of the special springtime activities that you’ll see around Greenfield Village as you take that first stroll of the season. See you soon!

There are many things that make Greenfield Village different from other history destinations, but probably one of the most unique is our historic transportation options. Besides seeing 300 years of American history in 80 authentic structures, you can also experience the thrill of riding a steam engine or a real working Model T (one that’s NOT on a track – you’ll get the real experience of riding in these early cars!).

As we get ready for opening day of Greenfield Village, many preparations are underway, both in our roundhouse and the Model T garage for you to enjoy these means of historic transportation.

In our Detroit Toledo & Milwaukee Roundhouse – the only operating one in the Midwest – our engineers have been hard at work all season, preparing the engines for a season’s worth of work – no easy work for these machines! Our dedicated and highly trained railroad men are also skilled mechanics, machinists and boilermakers, fabricating parts for our engines similar to nineteenth-century standards.

As the Village’s opening day draws near, they’ve been focused on preventative maintenance for these 19th-century steam engines, doing preventative maintenance on the steam-powered air compressors and the passenger cars and then taking test runs around Greenfield Village. Watch video here of our Plymouth engine as it is moved off of our railroad turntable.

And if you’ll be here on opening weekend, you’ll be riding on the Torch Lake steam engine!

Meanwhile, in the Model T garage, our team of skilled antique vehicle specialists have been busy cleaning up and repairing our fleet of Model Ts so that they’re ready for a spin through the streets of Greenfield Village! When I stopped in today, they were having a kickoff party with the mechanics, drivers and volunteers who help maintain and run these beauties.

One of our antique vehicle specialists, Ken Kennedy, was kind enough to take a break from the team’s festivities (everyone was decked out in bow ties!) to take us through some of the bigger repairs for a few of our vehicles – watch the video here for all the details.

And this season, our Model AA bus will be out for a few of the opening months for more extensive repairs – look for a more in-depth blog post on this process soon, as well as details of its return to rotation!

Have you ridden in any of these historic transportation options? What differences (and maybe similarities) do you notice between them and modern versions? Do you have a favorite steam engine or even Model T driver?