MTM was formed in 1962 to save a streetcar that had been built and operated by Twin City Rapid Transit (TCRT) in Minneapolis–St.

1300, was successfully restored, other projects were examined in the time before the streetcar could be put on its own set of rails.

Trains running on special routes have sometimes stopped at the station, and it was eventually integrated into the area streetcar system.

Most equipment in the bus collection were built by the GMC division of General Motors, and represented the vehicles that replaced the streetcars in the Twin Cities in the 1950s.

The Earliest is a 1942 Mack (occasionally used in conjunction with the Commemorative Air Force) which transported war workers to the B-24 final assembly point at what is now St Paul's Holman Field, and a block of 1953/54 GMC transit units, two of which are painted in original Twin Cities Lines colors.

This part of the collection was sponsored by Richfield Bus Company, who had provided maintenance and licensing to operate them.

Excursion trains are operated on trackage formerly owned by Wisconsin Central Ltd., now part of Canadian National Railway.

Excursion trains operate from the historic Osceola Depot, north to Dresser, Wisconsin, and southbound to and through the scenic St. Croix River Valley.

During winter months, the Roundhouse is a functioning work area for Museum rolling stock, often with the volunteer workforce welding, grinding and sending sparks flying.

Open Wednesday & Saturday, year-round, and on Friday during the summer months it is a maintenance & restorations base for the museum's locomotives and rolling stock.

It is highly interactive, offering train rides (Saturdays) as well as hands-on exhibits about surface transportation history of Minnesota and the upper Midwest.