Museum Recommendations

[Osgood]

London Transport Museum, Covent Garden​

In all the years of 'whiling away a few hours' in London, I'd never given the long-established London Transport Museum a second thought.

But finding ourselves with a 1/2 day to spare and the temptation of a new exhibition called 'Poster Girls' (no, not posters of girls - it celebrates over 100 years of female artists and their prolific work for an enlightened and encouraging London Transport), we paid a visit.

In short, the museum has been given the modern treatment - which inevitably means gearing it up for the children / family experience. And also widening the scope to tell the complete history of transport around the Capital. But in my view it has been done in a very skilful way so as not to detract from telling the story of London's transport whilst displaying their wonderful collection of exhibits in appropriate settings, with no 'dumbing down' in evidence.

One benefit is the ability to be more 'hands on' with the exhibits - for example you can even sit in the compartment of a 1880s Met. Rly coach.

One exhibit that caught my eye was a delightful diorama (I think to 1/43 scale) of a cut-and-cover operation during building of the first rail tunnels around 1865. Based I guess on a photo or engraving, the captivating scene is so full of detail I had to be dragged away after 10 minutes!





So, if you can tune out the occasional flurry of children I would highly recommend this museum to any transport buff. A very good book shop too, with a good and varied selection of current / new rail subjects.

Finally - a small example of the care and detail taken in creating the current museum is the topping on a cappuccino from the cafe! Well done, LT.

 

[Osgood]

On the subject of vintage posters - also spotted this nice retro-style poster on a full size hoarding on the South Bank:

 

[oldravendale]

I've not been to the LT Museum for many years, but you encourage me to have another go at it. I'm pleased to hear about the encouragement being given to make it more interesting for families. After all, that's where our enthusiasts of tomorrow will originate.

I also have every intention of visiting the Acton Depot at some time but have never got round to it. Then there's the London Bus Museum at Brooklands - same thing applies. Ho hum - so much of interest, so little time........

And that GWR poster is quite inspired, I reckon. I wonder how many people will "get" it.

Brian

 

[AJC]

I love the Transport Museum (the Museum Depot at Acton is great, too if you like Wunderkammer and know something of what you're looking at), but I've not used the cafe; nice attention to detail there.

I've not been to the LT Museum for many years, but you encourage me to have another go at it. I'm pleased to hear about the encouragement being given to make it more interesting for families. After all, that's where our enthusiasts of tomorrow will originate.

I also have every intention of visiting the Acton Depot at some time but have never got round to it. Then there's the London Bus Museum at Brooklands - same thing applies. Ho hum - so much of interest, so little time........

And that GWR poster is quite inspired, I reckon. I wonder how many people will "get" it.

Brian

The whole campaign is quite good - borrowing Blyton's Famous Five - but initial reports of the trains from a friend of mine, a Cardiff-based professor of medieval history (not a rail enthusiast so far as I know), is - 'so much space, but seats hard, ride hard'. I've not seen 'em as a punter yet, but they'll have to be *very* good indeed to change my view of GWR...

Adam

 

[JasonD]

LT museum and surroundings are great for the family. Only terrifying thought was while staring at the Northern Line driving car reminiscing about commuting to school on it (in it!) 55 or so years ago, the compressor started up - duuugga-duugga-dugga, dugga, etc - and the inevitable question - why didn't I finish my homework last night? - flashed in front of me.... Aaarggh!
Jason

 

[simond]

Brian

I quite agree that our future entusiasts will originate from visiting museums, I guess with enlightened parents, but is it necessary to turn it into Disneyland? Are the kids of today so lacking in attention span, interest or intellect that they have to be spoon fed with some kind of artificially sweetened gruel in order for them to “get” history? Discovery channel would have us believe so.

I haven’t been to the LT museum for a while, and I hope (and gather from the foregoing posts that) it still has the realism / grittiness that I recall, which is great. Maybe I’m being a bit unrealistically grumpy, or unfair, but I fear the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum have become too populist, and have somehow lost the plot.

Ho hum.
Simon

 

[John K]

And that GWR poster is quite inspired, I reckon. I wonder how many people will "get" it.
Brian

Hi Brian
Many more will get it than you might imagine.
Put ‘Enid Blyton for adults’ into a search engine and see what you get. My favourite is ‘Five go Gluten Free’.
John

 

[oldravendale]

Sadly, Simon, I think that the majority of kids have the attention span of a gnat, although that is a sweeping generalisation. And I qualify as a grumpy old man, so my comments can clearly be disregarded. However, there are clearly a number of kids, and of both sexes, who are fascinated by the historical aspects, and by simple miniaturisation.

Many years ago my wife and I looked after my nephew, aged about 6. He'd been brought up by his computer engineer father on a diet of computer games, and these still absorb a lot of his spare time - he's now about 25. I invited him in to the garage for a play on the model railway (actually it was Steph's, but as long as no-one tells him) and he went from being grumpy at being in a house without a computer (at the time) to being fascinated, particularly by the Mainline Aspinall Pug which he wanted to run all the time. (I still have that loco as a reminder of a super day). He was also remarkably responsible. He then got grumpy again when I said we were going to a model railway exhibition. However, there again he was fascinated by the layouts, and particularly a mixed gauge GWR one where the broad gauge went in one direction, and the standard gauge in another. He kept returning to it and kept us there for longer than would normally be the case.

It demonstrates to me that kids can be educated in to other interests. Regrettably he is lost to us as he went back to being immersed in computer games, but he still has a fond memory of that exhibition.

Let's be honest - there are now so many potential diversions for kids that we will have to work really hard to attract them to our rather slow and painstaking hobby, although some will discover that they have some "making skills" and will want to develop them.

Brian

 

[Osgood]

Brian

I quite agree that our future entusiasts will originate from visiting museums, I guess with enlightened parents, but is it necessary to turn it into Disneyland? Are the kids of today so lacking in attention span, interest or intellect that they have to be spoon fed with some kind of artificially sweetened gruel in order for them to “get” history? Discovery channel would have us believe so.

I haven’t been to the LT museum for a while, and I hope (and gather from the foregoing posts that) it still has the realism / grittiness that I recall, which is great. Maybe I’m being a bit unrealistically grumpy, or unfair, but I fear the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum have become too populist, and have somehow lost the plot.

Ho hum.
Simon

Simon - I guess I was trying to say that this is a museum where they appear to have successfully achieved what you hope for. Not that I ever got to the original museum (was it at Syon Park?), but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised (but best to avoid 1/2 term and hope for no school visits ).

Tony

 

[simond]

Thanks Tony, I did get the message, and I will, at some point, have another visit. I enjoyed the last one.

Whilst I can imagine MrsD being so inclined, whether we can convince young MasterD and MissD to join us is another question entirely. I suspect it would require the rolling of three conventional dice, with a total score to exceed 21...

Best
Simon

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

The LT Museum does have a very good bookshop as well.

 

[Steph Dale]

...would require the rolling of three conventional dice, with a total score to exceed 21...

I didn't know you were an MoD accountant...

Steph