London's Transport Museum - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The London Transport Museum, or LT Museum based in Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, seeks to conserve and explain the transport heritage of Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

's capital city. The majority of the museum's exhibits originated in the collection of London Transport

London Regional Transport

London Regional Transport was the organisation responsible for the public transport network in Greater London, UK from 1984-2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand of the organisation was London Transport.The organisation was...

, but, since the creation of Transport for London

Transport for London

Transport for London is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London in England. Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London...

(TfL) in 2000, the remit of the museum has expanded to cover all aspects of transportation in the city.

The museum operates from two sites within London. The main site in Covent Garden uses the name of its parent institution, sometimes suffixed by Covent Garden, and is open to the public every day, having recently reopened following a two year refurbishment. The other site, located in Acton

Acton, London

Acton is a district of west London, England, located in the London Borough of Ealing. It is situated west of Charing Cross.At the time of the 2001 census, Acton, comprising the wards of East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 53,689 people...

, is known as the London Transport Museum Depot and is principally a storage site that is open on regular visitor days throughout the year.

The museum was briefly re-named London's Transport Museum to reflect its coverage of topics beyond London Transport

London Regional Transport

, but it reverted to its previous name in 2007 to coincide with the reopening of the Covent Garden site.

The museum (Covent Garden)

The museum's main facility is located in a Victorian

Victorian architecture

The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

iron and glass building that originally formed part of the Covent Garden vegetable, fruit and flower market. It was designed as a dedicated flower market by William Rogers

William Rogers

-Politics:*William P. Rogers , U.S. Attorney General under Dwight Eisenhower and Secretary of State under Richard Nixon*Will Rogers, Jr. , congressman from California from 1943 to 1944 and the son of the noted humorist by the same name*Will Rogers , congressman from Oklahoma, 1933–1942*William D...

in 1871 and is located between Russell Street, Tavistock Street, Wellington Street and the east side of the former market square. The market moved out in 1971, and the building was first occupied by the London Transport Museum in 1980. Previously the collection had been located at Syon Park since 1973 and before that had formed part of the British Transport Museum at Clapham

Clapham

Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...

.

On 4 September 2005 the museum closed for a major £22 million refurbishment designed by Bryan Avery

Bryan Avery

Bryan Avery RIBA is a London based architect, born in Berkshire, England in 1944He studied architecture at Leicester College of Art , followed by a MA in the History and Theory of Architecture at Essex University under Professors Joseph Rykwert and Dalibor Veseley...

of Avery Associates Architects to enable the expansion of the display collection to encompass the larger remit of TfL which administers all forms of public transport. Enhanced educational facilities were also required. The museum reopened on 22 November 2007.

The entrance to the museum is from the Covent Garden Piazza, amongst the Piazza's many tourist attractions. The museum is within walking distance from both Covent Garden tube station

Covent Garden tube station

Covent Garden is a London Underground station in Covent Garden. It is on the Piccadilly Line between Leicester Square and Holborn. The station is a Grade II listed building, on the corner of Long Acre and James Street...

and Charing Cross railway station

Charing Cross railway station

Charing Cross railway station, also known as London Charing Cross, is a central London railway terminus in the City of Westminster, England. It is one of 18 stations managed by Network Rail, and trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...

The depot (Acton)

The Museum Depot is located in Acton

Acton, London

, West London, and was opened in October 1999. The depot holds the majority of the Museum's collections which are not on display in the main museum in Covent Garden, is the base for the museum's curators and conservators, and is used for the display of items too large to be accommodated in the main facility.

The depot provides 6,000 square metres of storage space in secure, environmentally controlled conditions and houses over 370,000 items of all types, including many original works of art used for the Museum's collections of poster

Poster

A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...

s, signs, model

Model (physical)

A physical model is a smaller or larger physical copy of an object...

s, photograph

Photograph

A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...

s, engineering drawing

Engineering drawing

An engineering drawing, a type of technical drawing, is used to fully and clearly define requirements for engineered items.Engineering drawing produces engineering drawings . More than just the drawing of pictures, it is also a language—a graphical language that communicates ideas and information...

s and uniform

Uniform

A uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...

s. The building has both road access and a rail connection to the London Underground

London Underground

The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

network, which allows the storage and display of significant numbers of bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

es, tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

s, trolleybus

Trolleybus

A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...

es, rail

Rail transport

Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...

rolling stock

Rolling stock

Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...

and other vehicles.

The depot is not regularly open to the public, but is fully equipped to receive visitors, with ticket office, shop and other visitor facilities. It opens to the public for special events, including themed open weekends - usually two or three times per year. It is within easy walking distance of Acton Town tube station

Acton Town tube station

Acton Town is a London Underground station in Acton, west London, served by the Piccadilly and District lines. The station is at the junction of Gunnersbury Lane and Bollo Lane and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-Services:...

The collection

The first parts of the collection were brought together at the beginning of the 20th century by the London General Omnibus Company

London General Omnibus Company

The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, was the principal bus operator in London between 1855 and 1933. It was also, for a short period between 1909 and 1912, a motor bus manufacturer.- Overview :...

(LGOC) when it began to preserve buses being retired from service. After the LGOC was taken over by the London Electric Railway (LER), the collection was expanded to include rail vehicles. It continued to expand after the LER became part of the London Passenger Transport Board

London Passenger Transport Board

The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport in London, UK, and its environs from 1933 to 1948...

in the 1930s and as the organization passed through various successor bodies up to TfL, London's current transport authority.

The collection has had a number of homes. It was housed as part of the Museum of British Transport at a disused tram depot in Clapham

Clapham

High Street (now a supermarket) from 1963 to 1972, and then at Syon Park in Brentford

Brentford

Brentford is a suburban town in west London, England, and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Brent, west-southwest of Charing Cross. Its former ceremonial county was Middlesex.-Toponymy:...

from 1973 to 1977, before being moved to Covent Garden in 1980. Most of the other exhibits moved to York

York

York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

on formation of the National Railway Museum

National Railway Museum

The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the British National Museum of Science and Industry and telling the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It has won many awards, including the European Museum of the Year Award in 2001...

in 1975.

The Covent Garden building has on display many examples of bus

Bus

es, tram

Tram

s, trolleybus

Trolleybus

A trolleybus is an electric bus that draws its electricity from overhead wires using spring-loaded trolley poles. Two wires and poles are required to complete the electrical circuit...

es and rail

Rail transport

vehicles from 19th and 20th centuries as well as artifacts and exhibits related to the operation and marketing of passenger services and the impact that the developing transport network has had on the city and its population.

Larger exhibits held at Acton depot include a complete 1938 stock

London Underground 1938 Stock

The 1938 Tube Stock is a London Underground tube stock design. The trains were built by Metro-Cammell and Birmingham RC&W, and were used on the London Underground until 1988. During their long lives they worked on the Bakerloo, Piccadilly, Northern, East London and Central lines...

tube train as well as early locomotives from the first sub-surface and first deep-level lines.

Transport links

**Public transport access**
London Buses	Covent Garden RV1 London Buses route RV1 London Buses route RV1 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. Prior to its launch, the service was promoted as Riverside Bus, and was intended to open up the south bank of riverside London, connecting visitor attractions such as the Tower of London, the Tate Modern, the... Aldwych 4 London Buses route 4 London Buses route 4 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Metroline.-History:... , 11 London Buses route 11 London Buses route 11 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Go-Ahead London.-History:... , 15 London Buses route 15 London Buses route 15 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England, United Kingdom. The regular service on route 15 is currently contracted to Stagecoach London and operated with modern double-decker buses... , 23 London Buses route 23 London Buses route 23 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to First Centrewest.... , 26 London Buses route 26 London Buses route 26 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to First Capital.-History:... , 76, 172 Aldwych 243 London Buses route 243 London Buses route 243 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to Arriva London.-History:... , 341
London Underground	Covent Garden Covent Garden tube station Covent Garden is a London Underground station in Covent Garden. It is on the Piccadilly Line between Leicester Square and Holborn. The station is a Grade II listed building, on the corner of Long Acre and James Street...

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

The museum (Covent Garden)

The depot (Acton)

The collection

Transport links

See also

External links