London Transport Museum Depot Open Weekend – We Love Steam!

As a bit of a tube geek, I clearly wasn’t going to pass up the chance to visit the London Transport Museum‘s Acton depot on their annual spring Open Weekend. The depot is crammed full of all the things that won’t fit in the museum proper in Covent Garden, and there are plenty of gems to discover, such as this ornate arch:

The depot is basically a giant warehouse and it takes a good while to explore. I liked this rather sweet model of a steam train, and this fascinating cross-section of Westminster station.

There were countless maps, including this one from 1910, showing how the Underground network has changed over the years.


Several corridors were lined with old Tube signs, including those from now-defunct stations such as Ongar and Aldwych.

The largest part of the depot was filled with vehicles: examples of Tube trains and carriages from various eras, as well as several styles of buses.

My trip to the depot was fascinating and I’m glad I went along. London Transport Museum host a couple of these weekends a year, as well as various activities, which are displayed on their events page. I definitely recommend taking a look.

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