Night at the Museum in London
With the 2012 Olympic Games happening here, many of us are starting to be a little fed up with transport restrictions, etc. But in fact, my evening visit to the London Transport Museum a few weeks ago could not have been any more enjoyable. My night at the museum was a different type of party on a Friday evening.
A friend had VIP tickets to this exhibition where the history of public transport in London was in exhibition. The building was formerly a flower market in Victorian times. There were old trains, tube wagons and buses. Some of the machines are new too, including the new cable car. So, it was a bit like travelling throughout time.
To make it more enjoyable, they offered free drinks and some music. I could not have liked the idea any more!
It was fun seeing some of the old machines.
It is charming seeing how the inside has been changing over time. You can see that the inside structure today is quite similar to yesteryear.
Part of the exhibition focused on the difficulty of making it all happen. It must´ve certainly not being so easy for residents and businesses, particularly in central areas.
The working conditions must have been really bad back then. They did a great job!
For the techies out there, this interactive map showed the tube lines at work in different areas in real-time. This reminds me of those old war movies, where old generals and pretty women officers gathered around a huge map while discussing their tactics and showing how they were progressing with them on the field. How cool is that?
Two further aspects of this exhibition are publicity posters and tube maps.
London tube maps have been re-designed, converted into works of art many times. Some of them are a real work of art exhibited in the Modern Tate and other museums. It was originally created by Harry Beck.
These are some of the pieces that we saw at the exhibition. Click on the images to make them bigger.
Enjoy!
What a great exhibit! Thanks for sharing this. When I visited London I found the Tube to be so wonderful. I love the lady’s voice who anounced the stations. That was a very nice touch.
Thank you! We are not loving that voice a lot these days, but tube runs up until 1.30am until the end of the Olympics!
Oh…the poor tube voice is un-loved… LOL. watched the bike race today just to see London in High Definition… wonderful.
I had so much fun riding the tube in London in 1972. I hope to again someday.