London's Transport Museum

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London's Transport Museum, formerly known as the London Transport Museum, is a museum which seeks to conserve and explain the transport heritage of London, England.

1 Location and visiting
2 History of the museum
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Location and visiting

The main museum is located in the Covent Garden tourist precinct in central London, in a large building built in 1872 and formerly used as part of the Covent Garden Flower Market. The museum has on display many examples of buses, trams and rail vehicles. It also has explanatory displays on many aspects of London Transport, including hands-on displays intended to appeal to the younger visitor.

The central location of the main museum is a great advantage, but the museum possesses many exhibits, ranging in size from postcards to a complete 1938 tube train, that it cannot display there. Most of these exhibits are held at the museum depot in Acton, a large modern purpose-built, road and rail connected facility. Whilst this depot is not normally open, it does stage several open weekends each year, and themed guided tours at other times. Again, see the museum's website (in 'External links') for details of dates, opening hours and prices.

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[edit] History of the museum

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The museum was opened at its current Covent Garden site in 1980. It was originally known as the 'London Transport Museum' and concentrated on the heritage of London Transport, the organisation that then ran underground railways and buses in the city.

In 2000, ownership of the museum was transferred to Transport for London, the new body set up to manage transport in London. At the same time the remit of the museum was changed to cover all aspects of transport within London, and to reflect this the museum's name was changed slightly to 'London's Transport Museum'.

On 4 September 2005 the museum closed for a major GBP18.6 million refurbishment.<ref> London Transport Museum Project Introduction Retrieved 29 January 2006 </ref>. Due to the fact that Transport for London is responsible for more forms of transport than its predecessor London Transport, the museum's remit is to be expanded to cover cycling, walking, taxis and water transport. The building housing the museum will be refurbished enabling more exhibits to be displayed, together with enhanced educational facilities.<ref> London Transport Museum Project Information Retrieved 29 January 2006 </ref> The Project is due for completion in 2007.