150 years. And that is not even how old transport in London is, but the tube is that old - we had omnibuses and stuff beforehand. That's a lot of history and with so much of it being pioneering, you have to wonder if one building is enough [1].
Apart from the qualities of the underground system which are celebrated, there is a lot more to see here too.
The museum is laid out over three floors [map] of different sizes and the best way of going through would be to start at the top and work down.
The lift acts as a time machine and you go back to 1800 with the soundtrack of some moments in time played through the lift speaker. The second floor is fairly small with some historical information about how London grew and changed before the introduction of the tube. It is pretty interesting to see the way the trains came into the then outskirts of the city and how quickly that happened. There are also some models of omnibuses including some horse manure. That is a nice attention to detail.
First floor
The first floor has a large train locomotive, the only remaining one from the 1860s, and carriage that you can go into. It is indicative of the Metropolitan line which was extended, in some way, from the original line[2] which was built using a cut and cover method. Other lines were built using deep tunnels but this was not until later. The Metropolitan line, when extended out into the suburbs, or "Metro-land", extended the reach and scope of London hugely and there are some nice posters and suchlike about this. There is a bridge connection to a little learning area (great for kids) and the gallery space.
Gallery space
The space on offer is not huge but there is pace for quite a lot of pictures and this is changed fairly rgularly. When I last went, there was an excellent Poster Art exhibition showcasing London Transport posters over the ages but this is changed fairly regularly and is worth returning for if you have an annual ticket.
Ground floor
A transport museum needs transport, and here it is. The ground floor has more modern machines with a couple of heritage carriages (1938 stock I think) to see things as they were in 70s or 80s and a load of buses. It is nice to see them all in such an inviting environment there are displays about London design aspects along with a few train simulators to try your hand at it. It is quite a fun, tactile floor with so many things to ride and have photos taken at. One item I really like is a pixel art style (isometric too) frieze of London with lots of type of transport and stations that are similar to (but not identical to) real places. It is a lot of fun to work out what the inspiration was and I obviously have a soft spot for pixel art. There is a huge map of London onto which data flows are also projected but they can change what is projected and it could even be real time - for example air traffic over London. There is a study of London performed by UCL website [link] and I always find this kind of stuff being visualised really compelling. And, talking of compelling,there is an excellent, enlightening video running of the evolution of the tube's reach. The tube map has its own evolution from geographic to the present network style, which is a work of art in its own right via the ingenuity of Harry Beck. This map is not just how we see the tube but, increasingly, the way we understand the city and so to see the tube grow over time on the map, to see the stops and lines grow over time is fascinating. I know about the time and growth of the network but to see it visualised in this way is superb.
Shop
The visual identity of the tube and TfL is very strong, even apart from the ubiquitous nature of the infrastructure. London was[3] blessed with a progressive transport authority, from when it started in 1933, that has given an identity to places and branding where there was no need. The uniformity of purpose behind London transport has seen, famously, an in-house typeface (New Johnston, a genuinely brilliant typeface) and a world famous logo - the roundel. Tfl know the value of this IP and you can see that in the shop by the prices. The shop is beautiful without the museum attached with the less geeky, design based stuff downstairs and models, technical books and posters upstairs. It is well worth a look with some clever designs and good uses of maps, colours, textures and typefaces. Some of the items, such as cups and plates, are useful but others, such as anything with moquette, are just something to have and enjoy. Even if you are not planning on buying anything, looking at some of the artwork in the posters upstairs and the careful design dotted around the shop is still a joy. You can see some of it online too.
Overall , the museum is worth a visit and is exceptional with children. Although there is an entry charge, it is still very busy almost all of the time so do not expect a quiet stroll through but it is designed to have a flow through and to be experienced as much as looked at. There is a feeling of fun and pride running through the whole thing and it would be a shame to waste it.
1. To be honest, it is not really but the depot is not always open and that has more things there for those of a geekier bent.↩
2. The original line was from Paddington to Farringdon and is now partially used for the Circle, Hammersmith and City lines along with the Metropolitan line.↩
3. Regrettably, the past tense is used as the recent introductions by TfL have been usually quite regressive with a design that seems more suitable for an opening photo shoot by newspapers rather than designed for the users. It is depressing, to see such a high quality institution being used for these ends but the recent cable car, bikes and fat bus provide a poor service for the mass transport that TfL should provide - at a high cost.↩
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