Remember the glory days of railroading? How about trucking's glory days? Chances are the latter won't ring any bells – but it darn well should. The history of trucking in the U.S. is much more adventurous than train lore, if only because trucks frequently made their own roads rather than confine themselves to steel tracks.

You can enjoy such history at the Hays Trucking Museum in Woodland, Calif., the largest antique truck museum in the world. Its collection of 128 rare trucks includes gas, diesel, steam and electric models. It's no wonder truckers and other lovers of venerable vehicles bring their families here.

"We are also in the process of helping to educate kids about the transportation industry," says Don Hays, whose father, the late A.W. Hays, started collecting and restoring classic trucks in the 1960s. "When kids take field trips here from school, their mouths drop open. Most of them had no idea trucks this old ever existed! We've run as high as 1,000 kids a week through here."

The idea for trucks goes back to ancient Greece. In 1769, French army officer Nicholas Cugnot built and operated a cumbersome three-wheeled steam driven gun tractor, which is regarded as the first true ancestor of trucks. The massive machine is in a French museum today, and still works.

A century earlier, before the advent of the steam engine, Dutch farmers in Holland, where the land is flat, affixed sails to large carts and used them to trundle cheeses, tulips and other freight from place to place.

But true trucks had to await the development of an internal combustion engine, essentially controlled "bombs" inside steel chambers. Many inventors worked on such engines, hoping to emerge alive from the experience. They used a crude, extremely dangerous form of gasoline called naphtha, and several inventors died or suffered grave injuries as a result.

But they kept at it, and by 1885, inventor Carl Benz had a tricycle-type automobile cruising German roads. There were even reports that Benz wasn't the first; that a Belgian and an Austrian each drove "auto carts" in the 1860s. Much remained to be done before gasoline-powered trucks could be perfected. Even though Rudolf Diesel had patented the diesel engine by 1892, it would be years before it found its way into trucks.

In those early days, inventors ran wild. By World War I, four-wheel-drive trucks were trundling up the cement steps of state capitols to demonstrate versatility. Not only were the earliest trucks steam-powered, like the French device, but steam trucks were operating clear into the 1920s, as were electric ones. However, gasoline-powered engines were preferred, and many daring escapades helped further truck development.

In 1911, a 2.5-ton Packard truck carrying all its own tools, tires, oil, gas and food, rumbled across a highway-less America from New York to San Francisco, in 86 days. The three-man crew usually created their own roads and bridges, while crashing through a number of flimsy existing bridges. Such arduous journeys spurred Congress into developing new highways.

"Funny thing," says Don Hays, "my father began having interest in old trucks only toward the end of his life. In the 1940s, he owned and operated one of the largest agricultural truck companies in the United States, A.W. Hays Transportation. When he sold it, he wanted something to do, so he founded this museum," which operates as a nonprofit organization.

A.W. Hays had little interest in old trucks until he restored the first vehicle he ever hauled freight in, a 1929 ton-and-a-half stake truck. That hooked him, and the vehicle now holds a place of honor among other vehicles dating back to the turn of the century.

Like celebrities, the polished vintage trucks in the museum seem to vie with each other for top honors. "Look at me!" a beautifully restored 1915 Sandow seems to say, only to have a handsome 1923 All American retort, "Forget that old wreck! I'm the real star here!" Most of the 128 vehicles in the Hays collection can be made operational, and many can still be driven. They range from bizarre steel dinosaurs like the massive, lumbering 1916 CT Electric with its 12-foot cab, to a pair of 5-ton logging trucks.

The Curtis Publishing Company used the CT Electric to haul its magazines through Philadelphia streets until 1960, some 44 years! It had no transmission and weighed a whopping 5,700 pounds, but its 50-plus battery array allowed it to roll along at 12 mph in perfect silence.

One of the more unusual trucks is a fascinating replica of a 1957 GMC pickup carved out of wood. The one-of-a-kind, full-size farm truck was sculpted by Paul Alberth, then a student at Indiana University, who spent 500 hours duplicating his dad's pickup. It rests on wooden tires, and many parts move.

The previously mentioned 1915 Sandow, by the way, is the only one ever built. It's just one of the museum's rare gems. Another is the 1923 All American, the first truck to reach 35 miles an hour, chiefly because it sported then-recently developed pneumatic tires. The old solid-rubber-tired trucks would shake apart above 15 mph. Such trucks were mostly used in cities and for short hauls. Indeed, cross-country truck freighting pretty much had to wait for air-filled tires, which came into wide use only after World War I.

Truckers head the visitor list

The oldest truck in the collection is a 1903 Knox quarter-ton, followed by a 1909 Randolph. The names puzzle many visitors, who don't realize that at one time, there were more than 50 truck manufacturers. Many quickly fell by the wayside; others struggled for years until only a few giants were left.

You may have heard of White Motors' trucks, but did you know a sewing machine maker named White started the line? There's also REO (after Random E. Olds, who sold his Oldsmobile company and formed REO), Autocar, International Ford, Chevrolet, Peterbilt and Mack, to name some of the most successful.

Docents – unpaid volunteers who do their jobs because they love being around historic trucks – help with guided tours at the Hays Museum. "We couldn't exist without them," says Don Hays.

Al Garcia, a Korean War Marine Corps veteran, is one such docent, and he's extremely knowledgeable about antique trucks. He came up with a nifty idea for showing off the museum to visitors who wish to be seated and view a large-screen TV.

"I had a 1951 Diamond-T grille," he says, "and it wasn't good for anything else, so I restored it and mounted a television set in it. That way we can also educate people about the American Truck Historical Society."

"We get a lot of truckers in here," says Don Hays. "Of course, plenty of other visitors also come, but I'd say truckers are the largest segment. Kids, of course, love it. Their eyes literally bug out with amazement." The Hays Antique Truck Museum is about 16 miles north of Sacramento on Interstate 5. Call (530) 666-9700 or go to the Web site, www.truckmuseum.com, for more info.