Tag: public transport

It’s been a long time since I’ve visited the London Transport Museum‘s Acton depot, so I decided to go along to their ‘Underground Uncovered’ event in September. As on my previous visit, there was plenty to see – buses, trams, and Underground cars including one of the District Line carriages that I travelled on frequently before they replaced them a few years ago.

During my visit I attended a talk, The Development of the Underground Logo and Roundel, with Nick Gill. This was fascinating and I learned a lot – not least that the roundel was nearly superseded by a different logo at one point, but the new one did not catch on, to say the least.

There were also some new things to see: notably a Lego map of the Underground, and – most excitingly – the miniature railway! I got to have a ride on this, and it was great fun.

The Acton depot is open on several weekends throughout the year – check out the museum website for details.

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.