‘London by Design’ London Transport Museum Depot Open Days

On 26-28 April, London Transport Museum is hosting its first Depot Open Days event of 2024, offering the public an opportunity to explore behind the scenes of its giant working collection store in Acton Town, west London. Depot Open Days allow the public to discover the Museum’s vast collection of more than 320,000 objects not on display in the Covent Garden Museum.

The ‘London by Design’ Depot Open Days will allow visitors to learn about the capital’s rich transport’s design heritage. Guests can climb aboard historic Tube trains, see buses from a bygone era, and marvel at vintage maps and signage. Visitors can also enjoy a line-up of expert talks, tours, craft workshops for families and be entertained by a London busker.

Visitors will discover the story of Frank Pick – the first Chief Executive of London Transport when it was created in 1933 – who pioneered a world-renowned design culture in public transport. Pick had a flair for design and his legacy can still be seen today across the city’s transport network. Elements including the bull’s eye roundel, Johnston font, diagrammatic Tube map, posters, station architecture, and even the moquette textile that passengers sit on, all form one of the most familiar design identities in the world.

The ‘London by Design’ Depot Open Days programme includes:   

A programme of talks for adults (Select days and times)

• Perfect Patterns: a history of moquette by Harriet Wallace-Jones, one half of the famous Wallace and Sewell design company, which has created iconic textile designs for the London Underground, London’s buses, the Elizabeth Line trains and London Overground (Friday)
• Rebranding London Transport Museum. Why? by Sau-Fun Mo, Head of Design of London Transport Museum (Friday)
• For Business or Pleasure – London Transport Poster Art and its Promotion of London by Matt Brosnan, London Transport Museum’s Head Curator (Saturday)
• Redesigning the Tube Map by Jon Hunter, Transport for London’s Design lead (Saturday)
• Let’s Talk About Trains by Chris Nix, London Transport Museum’s Director of Content (Sunday)
• Why are London buses red? Volunteer Depot Guides explore the history behind one of the key aspects of London’s public transport identity (All)

Activities for families and big kids (Select days and times)

• Design your own decorative tile inspired by those used on the Underground since the late 19th century (Saturday and Sunday)
• Try your hand at designing a Lego Dream City (Saturday, Sunday)
• Test your knowledge of moquette design in a drop-in session (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)   

Mini-tours (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)

• Join the Museum’s Hidden London tour guides to discover life-like models of Underground stations
• Take a guided tour to discover the weird and wonderful objects the Museum’s curators are currently identifying and cataloguing – some which have never been seen by the public before!

Other activities 

• Hop aboard the London Transport Miniature Railway. Tickets sold separately on the day (Saturday, Sunday)
• Tap your feet to the sound of a talented busker (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
• Enjoy tasty Mexican food and drink by TheLilKitchen or grab a coffee, drink, sandwiches, and sweet treats from Mini Bean Coffee (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) 

The ‘London by Design’ Depot Open Days event takes place on 26-28 April 2024.

Adult tickets cost £17.50 and £9.00 for children. Kids aged 3 and under go free.