Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Musée des Transports urbaines, interurbans et rurales was founded in March 1957 by a group of enthusiasts, following the acquisition of the No.1 motor of the trams of Versailles, shortly before their abolition. These amateurs then created the AMTUIR (Association of the Museum of Urban, Long Distance and Rural Transport) with the aim of establishing a national museum. Thanks to the support of RATP and the initiative of its founder Jean Robert, the association obtains a space in the depot of Malakoff to exhibit its first collections. The museum officially opened to the public in 1964, becoming the first French railway museum before Mulhouse. It presents trams, buses, trolleybuses and locomotives, while organizing temporary exhibitions and routes in old vehicles.

Between 1967 and 1974, the museum moved to Saint-Mandé, near the wood of Vincennes, to host an expanding collection, including foreign vehicles and rare pieces such as a Mekarski motor (compressed air tramway). In 1967, AMTUIR obtained public utility status. However, the Saint-Mandé site closed in 1998 to give way to a real estate program. The collection was then transferred to Colombes in 2001, but a municipal change in 2002 forced a new move. In 2003, the museum received the label Musée de France, before settling temporarily in Chelles in 2007, waiting for a definitive building never realized.

Since 2007, the museum is located at 1 rue Gabriel-de-Mortillet in Chelles, in a temporary building. Despite abandoned projects (especially in 2012), the municipality relaunched discussions in 2017-2018 for a permanent settlement, with the support of the Île-de-France region and the Greater Paris Metropolis. The museum now opens regularly (one Saturday a month, Heritage Days) and offers an old bus shuttle from the station. Its collection, partially exposed (70 of 130 vehicles), includes unique pieces such as Wagram-Bastille omnibus, Parisian trams, and secondary railway steam locomotives.

The AMTUIR collections cover 150 years of transport history (1863 to present), with hippomobile, electric, compressed air vehicles, and buses. Among the rarity are a Mekarski motor car (only compressed air trams kept in the world), trams from Versailles, Lyon, or Nantes, and locomotives from the Tramways of Ille-et-Vilaine or Corrèze. Part of the collection is lent over the long term to other museums or conserved on reserves, such as RATP. The museum thus illustrates the technological and social evolution of public transport, from the industrial era to modernity.

The association AMTUIR, in collaboration with the town hall of Chelles and promoters, has been working since 2019 to integrate the museum into the project "Invent the Greater Paris Metropole", aimed at requalifying the Castermant district. Although the definitive building is still not built, the museum remains a key player in the preservation of the transport heritage, with a representative collection of all France and some foreign pieces. Its ad hoc opening and its events (Night Museums, Heritage Days) make it a place of discovery for those passionate about industrial and urban history.

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