London Transport Museum - Covent Garden, London, UK
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member Master Mariner
N 51° 30.717 W 000° 07.296
30U E 699726 N 5710686
The London Transport Museum is located at the eastern corner of Covent Garden. The market moved out in 1971 and the museum occupied the building in 1980.
Waymark Code: WMPVQA
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/26/2015
Published By:Groundspeak Charter Member briansnat
Views: 3

The Visit London website tells us:

The Museum explores the powerful link between transport and the growth of modern London, its culture and society since 1800. Highlights include the iconic red London bus, the world’s first Underground steam train and the ‘padded cell’ – a train carriage dating back to the 1890s.

The Design for Travel gallery showcases pioneering advertising posters and artworks and the displays include Harry Beck’s original artwork for his ground breaking London Underground map, and the story of the development of the world famous ‘roundel’ transport logo.

The galleries are full of interactive exhibits for young people and adults alike to play on - including real buses and trains.

Wikipedia has an article about the London Transport Museum that tells us:

The London Transport Museum, or LT Museum based in Covent Garden, London, seeks to conserve and explain the transport heritage of Britain's capital city. The majority of the museum's exhibits originated in the collection 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.

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 reopened in 2007 after a two-year refurbishment. The other site, located in Acton, 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 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.

London Transport Museum is a registered charity under English law.

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 occupied by the London Transport Museum in 1980. The collection had been located at Syon Park since 1973 and before that had formed part of the British Transport Museum at Clapham.

On 4 September 2005 the museum closed for a major £22 million refurbishment designed by Bryan Avery 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 and Charing Cross railway station.

The first parts of the collection were brought together at the beginning of the 20th century by the London General Omnibus Company (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 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 High Street (now a supermarket) from 1963 to 1972, and then at Syon Park in Brentford from 1973 to 1977, before being moved to Covent Garden in 1980. Most of the other exhibits moved to York on formation of the National Railway Museum in 1975.

The Covent Garden building has on display many examples of buses, trams, trolleybuses and 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.

The "Official Tourism" URL link to the attraction: [Web Link]

The attraction’s own URL: [Web Link]

Hours of Operation:
Museum galleries: Monday-Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10.00 - 18.00 (Last entry 17.15) Friday 11.00 - 18.00 (Last entry 17.15) Museum shop: Sunday - Tuesday 10.00 - 18.30 Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10.00 - 19.00 Friday 11.00 - 19.00 Upper Deck cafe bar: Sunday - Tuesday 10.00 - 18.30 Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday 10.00 - 19.00 Friday 11.00 - 19.00


Admission Prices:
Adult £16.00; Concession £13.50 All individual tickets allow unlimited admission to the museum for 12 months from date of purchase. People under 18 may enter for free when accompanied by an adult.


Approximate amount of time needed to fully experience the attraction: Half of a day (2-5 hours)

Transportation options to the attraction: Personal Vehicle or Public Transportation

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