London Transport Museum

The London Transport Museum showcases all aspects of transportation within the city. The museum's main facility is located in a Victorian iron and glass building. It originally formed part of the Covent Garden vegetable, fruit and flower market, designed as a dedicated flower market by William Rogers in 1871. The market moved out in 1971, and the building was first occupied by the London Transport Museum in 1980, having moved from a garden pavilion at Syan House in south-west London. The museum closed in 2005 for a major refurbishment to enable the expansion of the display collection. It reopened in 2007 and the entrance to the museum is from the Covent Garden Piazza, with its many tourist attractions, and within easy walking distance of Covent Garden tube station.

The first section of Underground Railway opened from Paddington to Farringdon in 1863. A second line began operating five years later and the two were eventually linked to create the Circle Line in 1884. The early underground was a huge engineering achievement but had one big disadvantage - its steam locomotives created a permanent sulphurous fug in the stations and tunnels. The only surviving steam engine from the 1860s, Metropolitan number 23, is on display in the Museum.

London General Omnibus Company

Old Tube Carriage

The museum is a great place for visiting with children as it features many “hands-on” exhibits and these include the chance for children to put themselves in the driver’s seat of a tube train or London bus. The museum has artefacts and exhibits relating 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 famous Routmaster London Bus