The Transit Museum Opens Early for Toddlers and Trains

Transit Tots runs on select Sundays in the Education Center, inside the 1936 station, and the 9:30 start lands a full half hour before the museum opens to the public. The hour belongs to children 18 months to 3 years and the adults who bring them. A storyteller reads aloud, a craft waits at the table, and imaginative play runs on a transit theme. This is not a drop-off class. Each child keeps one adult beside them through the full hour.

The workshop ends at 10:30, and admission to the rest of the museum comes with the fee. The platform level runs a full city block and holds about twenty rotating vintage subway and elevated cars, some dating back to 1904. The oldest of them are wooden elevated cars built in the early 1900s, and the last of the galleries closes at 4 PM.

The museum is at 99 Schermerhorn Street, about eight minutes on foot from Borough Hall on the 2, 3, 4 and 5. The marathon runs the same morning and closes roads along its route, Brooklyn included. Check MTA service before leaving. The clocks fall back at 2 AM that morning as well. The main entrance is two flights of stairs down, and the accessible entrance at Schermerhorn and Court is not equipped for strollers. A lightweight carry-on stroller or a baby carrier is easier than a full-size pram, and unattended stroller parking sits at the back of the museum. Book ahead, $40 for one child and up to two adults, with each additional child at $10. DUMBO and its waterfront sit about 20 to 25 minutes on foot.