The Museum of Science & Industry

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry the other day. We saw the new (since the last time we were there) U-505 exhibit. It was wonderful. The U-505 is a German Sub that was captured on June 4, 1944. It was brought to the M of S&I in 1954 and was outside in Chicago weather for years. Tours were available, accessible from inside the museum. You didn’t see the actual sub from the outside unless you were in the Space section. Then you could see it from a courtyard.
The sub was moved from its courtyard home to a new, 75 by 300 foot, 42 foot deep pit located 1,000 feet from its previous home. It is now accessible from within the museum with a two story ramp that allows one to walk completely around the sub and view artifacts associated with the sub. They also have the Enigma machine that was captured with the sub. You can take a virtual tour here.
Here’s the little guy, driving the sub…
The old model train set in the main hall has also been completely redone. The new 3,500 foot layout features the trains running from Chicago to Seattle and back again. Here’s a picture of the downtown Chicago section, with the Sears Tower in the middle.
More on the trains can be seen here. The Museum site is here.