The London Transport Museum (often abbreviated as the LTM) is a
transport
Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...
museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
based in
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 si ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the
heritage
Heritage may refer to:
History and society
* A heritage asset is a preexisting thing of value today
** Cultural heritage is created by humans
** Natural heritage is not
* Heritage language
Biology
* Heredity, biological inheritance of physical c ...
of
London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the history of it. The majority of the museum's exhibits originated in the collections of
London Transport, but, since the creation of
Transport for London (TfL) in 2000, the remit of the museum has expanded to cover all aspects of transportation in the city and in some instances beyond.
The museum operates from two sites within London. The main site in Covent Garden uses the name of its parent institution, and is open to the public every day excluding over Christmas, having reopened in 2007 after a two-year refurbishment. The other site, located in
Acton Acton may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Acton
Australia
* Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie
* Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton
Canada ...
, is known as the London Transport Museum Depot and is principally a storage site of historic artefacts that is open to the public on scheduled visitor days throughout the year.
The museum was briefly renamed London's Transport Museum to reflect its coverage of topics beyond
London Transport, but it reverted to its previous name in 2007 to coincide with the reopening of the Covent Garden site.
Museum (Covent Garden)
![The_new_Routemaster_(London_Transport_Museum)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/The_new_Routemaster_%28London_Transport_Museum%29.jpg)
The museum's main facility is located in a
Victorian iron and glass building that had formed part of the Covent Garden vegetable, fruit and flower market. It was designed as a dedicated flower market by William Rogers 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 reopened as the London Transport Museum on 28 March 1980. The collection had been located at
Syon Park
Syon Park is the garden of Syon House, the London home of the Duke of Northumberland in Isleworth in the London Borough of Hounslow. It was landscaped by Capability Brown in the 18th century, and it is Grade I listed by English Heritage under ...
since 1973 and before that had formed part of the British Transport Museum at
Clapham
Clapham () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history
T ...
.
On 4 September 2005 the museum closed for a major £22 million refurbishment designed by
Bryan Avery
Bryan Robert Avery MBE RIBA (2 January 1944 – 4 July 2017) was an English architect, born in Wallingford, Berkshire. After his childhood years spent in Lymington in the New Forest, Hampshire, he studied architecture at Leicester College ...
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.
[London Transport Museum Project Information]
Archive.org copy from 19 November 2006
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 Underground station and
Charing Cross railway station
Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross) is a central London railway terminus between the Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South Eastern Main Line to Dover via Ashfo ...
.
Collection
![LT Museum main hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/LT_Museum_main_hall.jpg)
The first parts of the collection were brought together at the beginning of the 20th century by the
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
The London General Omnibus Company was fou ...
(LGOC) when it began to preserve buses being retired from service. After the LGOC was taken over by the
London Electric Railway
The London Electric Railway (LER) was an underground railway company operating three lines on the London Underground. It was formed in 1910 and existed until 1933, when it was merged into the London Passenger Transport Board.
History
The LER wa ...
(LER), the collection was expanded to include rail vehicles. It continued to expand after the LER became part of the
London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Lond ...
in the 1930s and as the organisation 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 () is a suburb in south west London, England, lying mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, but with some areas (most notably Clapham Common) extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth.
History
Early history
T ...
High Street (now a supermarket) from 1963 to 1972, and then at
Syon Park
Syon Park is the garden of Syon House, the London home of the Duke of Northumberland in Isleworth in the London Borough of Hounslow. It was landscaped by Capability Brown in the 18th century, and it is Grade I listed by English Heritage under ...
in
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
from 1973 to 1977, before being moved to Covent Garden in 1980. Most of the other exhibits moved to
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
on formation of the
National Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...
in 1975.
The Covent Garden building has on display many examples of
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es,
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s,
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es and
rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' ( ...
vehicles from 19th and 20th centuries as well as artefacts 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. The first underground electric train, from 1890, can be seen here.
Larger exhibits held at Acton depot include a complete
1938 stock
The London Underground 1938 Stock was a London Underground tube stock design. A total of 1,121 cars were built by Metro-Cammell and Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company, Birmingham RC&W. An additional 173 cars were added to the fle ...
tube train as well as early locomotives from the first sub-surface and first deep-level lines.
Other Attractions
As of 2022, the museum offers three
simulator
A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of models; the model represents the key characteristics or behaviors of the selected system or process, whereas the s ...
experiences: One
Elizabeth Line
The Elizabeth line is a high-frequency hybrid Urban rail, urban–suburban rail service in London and its suburbs. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of London Paddington statio ...
simulator featuring a cab, a stand-up smaller version of the later, and a
1938 stock
The London Underground 1938 Stock was a London Underground tube stock design. A total of 1,121 cars were built by Metro-Cammell and Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon Company, Birmingham RC&W. An additional 173 cars were added to the fle ...
simulator complete with
deadman's handle
A dead man's switch (see alternative names) is a switch that is designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from control. Originally a ...
.
In addition there is the Hidden London exhibition which has been extended until Autumn 2023, featuring a sized-down, walkthrough replica of the
Aldwych
Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts Points of the compass, east-northeast of Charing Cros ...
Ticket Hall and
Down Street Blitz Shelter which Winston Churchill used during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The exhibition tells the story of some of London's abandoned stations and hidden transport infrastructure of which the museum offers some tours of.
There is the Children's interactive area complete with
Optare
Switch Mobility (originally called Optare) is an English bus manufacturer based in Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorkshire. It is a subsidiary of Indian company Ashok Leyland. The company would be responsible for the EV operations of the group with ...
bus and the All Aboard play-zone for 0-7 year olds.
Museum Shop
The museum shop sells a wide range of books, reproduction posters, models, gifts and souvenirs, both at Covent Garden and online. Profits from sales support the museum's activities.
Transport links
Museum Depot (Acton)
![gb-ltmd-overview4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Gb-ltmd-overview4.jpg)
The Museum Depot is located in
Acton Acton may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Acton
Australia
* Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie
* Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton
Canada ...
, 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. It 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
A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...
s,
signs,
model
A model is an informative representation of an object, person or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin ''modulus'', a measure.
Models c ...
s,
photograph
A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...
s,
engineering drawing
An engineering drawing is a type of technical drawing that is used to convey information about an object. A common use is to specify the geometry necessary for the construction of a component and is called a detail drawing. Usually, a number of ...
s and
uniform
A uniform is a variety of clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, se ...
s. The building has both road access and a rail connection to the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
network, which allows the storage and display of significant numbers of
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es,
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
s,
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es,
rail
Rail or rails may refer to:
Rail transport
*Rail transport and related matters
*Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway
Arts and media Film
* ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini
* ''Rail'' ( ...
rolling stock
The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...
and other vehicles.
The depot is not regularly open to the public, but is fully equipped to receive visitors, with ticket office, shop, a
miniature railway
A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petro ...
,
and other visitor facilities. It opens to the public for pre-booked guided tours on several dates each month, and also for special events, including themed open weekends – usually three times per year. It is within easy walking distance of
Acton Town Underground station.
See also
*
List of British heritage and private railways
This is a list of heritage, private and preserved railways throughout the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies, and British Overseas Territories whether operational or closed, that are operated for charitable purposes or shareholder profit ...
*
List of transport museums
A transport museum is a museum that holds collections of transport items, which are often limited to land transport (road and rail)—including old cars, motorcycles, trucks, trains, trams/streetcars, buses, trolleybuses and coaches—but can a ...
(worldwide)
*
Island Line (Isle of Wight) – operates former
London Underground trains in regular public service
Other transport museums with items from London Transport:
*
London Bus Museum,
Weybridge
Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...
*
Alderney Railway
The Alderney Railway on Alderney is the only railway in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, and the only working railway in the Channel Islands. (There is a standard gauge railway at the Pallot Heritage Steam Museum in Jersey, but this provides no actua ...
– on the Island of
Alderney
Alderney (; french: Aurigny ; Auregnais: ) is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide.
The island's area is , making it the third-largest ...
*
East Anglia Transport Museum
The East Anglia Transport Museum is an open-air transport museum, with numerous historic public transport vehicles (including many in full working order). It is located in Carlton Colville a suburb of Lowestoft, Suffolk. It is the only museu ...
– near
Lowestoft
Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...
*
National Railway Museum
The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...
–
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
*
National Tramway Museum
The National Tramway Museum (trading as Crich Tramway Village) is a tram museum located at Crich (), Derbyshire, England. The museum contains over 60 (mainly British) trams built between 1873 and 1982 and is set within a recreated period vil ...
–
Crich
Crich is a village in the English county of Derbyshire. The population at the 2001 Census was 2,821, increasing to 2,898 at the 2011 Census (including Fritchley and Whatstandwell). It has the National Tramway Museum inside the Crich Tramway Vil ...
*
The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft
The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is a transport museum which specialises in the preservation of trolleybuses. It is located by the village of Sandtoft, near Belton on the Isle of Axholme in the English county of Lincolnshire.
Description
The ...
– in
North Lincolnshire
North Lincolnshire is a unitary authority area in Lincolnshire, England, with a population of 167,446 in the 2011 census. The borough includes the towns of Scunthorpe, Brigg, Haxey, Crowle, Epworth, Bottesford, Kirton in Lindsey and Barton ...
Other transport and industrial museums in London:
*
Brunel Museum
The Brunel Museum is a small museum situated at the Brunel Engine House, Rotherhithe, London Borough of Southwark. The Engine House was designed by Sir Marc Isambard Brunel as part of the infrastructure of the Thames Tunnel which opened in 1843 ...
*
Kew Bridge Steam Museum
London Museum of Water & Steam is an independent museum founded in 1975 as the Kew Bridge Steam Museum. It was rebranded in early 2014 following a major investment project.
Situated on the site of the old Kew Bridge Pumping Station in Brentfo ...
*
London Canal Museum
London Canal Museum in the King's Cross area of London, England, is a regional museum devoted to the history of London's canals.
History
The museum was opened in 1992. It is housed in a Victorian ice warehouse that was used by Carlo Gatti. The ...
*
London Motorcycle Museum
London Motorcycle Museum displayed a range of over 150 classic and British motorcycles. It closed in October 2019, partly due to inability to meet the running costs.
A charitable trust, it opened in May 1999 at Oldfield Lane South, Greenford, ...
*
Science Museum (London)
The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019.
Like other publicly funded ...
*
Walthamstow Pump House Museum
The Walthamstow Pumphouse Museum is a museum based in Walthamstow, north-east London, it is contained in and around Low Hall Pumping Station, a Grade II listed building, originally built as a sewage pumping station in 1885.
The museum focuses ...
Other major transport museums in the UK:
*
Black Country Living Museum
The Black Country Living Museum (formerly the Black Country Museum) is an open-air museum of rebuilt historic buildings in Dudley, West Midlands, England.
*
Riverside Museum
The Riverside Museum (formerly known as the Glasgow Museum of Transport) is a museum in Glasgow, housed in a building at Pointhouse Quay in the Glasgow Harbour regeneration district of Glasgow, Scotland. The building opened in June 2011, winnin ...
, Glasgow
*
Museum of Transport in Manchester
The Museum of Transport, Greater Manchester aims to preserve and promote the public transport heritage of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is located in the Cheetham Hill area of Manchester.
Background
The museum was established in ...
*
Ulster Folk and Transport Museum
The Ulster Folk Museum and the Ulster Transport Museum are situated in Cultra, Northern Ireland, about east of the city of Belfast. The Folk Museum endeavours to illustrate the way of life and traditions of the people in Northern Ireland, past ...
*
Coventry Transport Museum
Coventry Transport Museum (formerly known as the Museum of British Road Transport) is a transport museum, located in Coventry city centre, England.
It houses the largest collection of British-made road transport held in public ownership. It i ...
Past transport museums in the UK:
*
North Woolwich Old Station Museum
The North Woolwich Old Station Museum was a small railway museum in North Woolwich, in Newham, East London. Located in the former Great Eastern Railway terminal station building at North Woolwich railway station, the museum opened in 1984. It ...
References
External links
*
Resource showing the entire collections on display at the Covent Garden site*
ttps://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/photographs Explore the online photographic collection of over 16,000 photographs
{{authority control
Transport museums in London
City museums in the United Kingdom
History museums in London
Railway museums in England
Bus museums in England
Museums in the City of Westminster
History of transport in London
Museums established in 1980
1980 establishments in England
Covent Garden
Charities based in London
Transport for London