SOMETIMES it really is about the journey, as train and bus enthusiasts will know too well.
Soon, Brits won’t have to imagine what it would’ve been like to commute around London in the 1920s with the city’s Museum Depot opening its doors for punters.
Located in Acton in West London, the Museum Depot houses over 320,000 items relating to the English capital’s transport history.
From examples of horse-drawn carriages and old-school buses, Museum Depot harks back to the golden age of travel.
And it’s not just vehicles and decommissioned tube carriages, the Museum Depot has just about every piece of Transport for London (TFL) paraphernalia imaginable – think transport posters and underground signs.
It’s also home to the London Transport Miniature Railway, a working miniature railway based on real London Underground locomotives, carriages, signals and signs.
All fun aside, its main purpose is to act as a working museum store, housing important pieces of transport history in environmentally controlled conditions.
A team of curators and volunteers work to catalogue and conserve objects like ceramic tiles, engineering drawings and ticket machines.
Despite its impressive collection, the Museum Depot only opens on set days throughout the year.
Described as “festival-style events” on its website, the set open days take place throughout the year and welcome thousands of transport enthusiasts.
The Museum Depot will be next open for three days from April 4 to April 6.
Its April open days will mark 200 years of the UK’s railways as well as 25 years of Transport for London.
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The weekend celebration will feature the world’s first underground railway as well as walkthroughs inside Piccadilly line trains.
There will also be behind-the-scenes mini tours, expert talks, family friendly activities, special displays and demonstrations.
Museum Depot will close its doors until the end of June, reopening for a three-day event from June 27 until June 29, 2025.
In June, visitors will learn about how engineering and technology has evolved to make transport greener.
The themed summer event will have special displays, demonstrations, expert talks and drop-in activities.
Tickets for full-paying adults cost £19 and children’s tickets cost £10.
The Museum Depot is open from 10am until 5pm on its set open days, staying open 30 minutes later during the weekend.
Previous open day visitors have praised the experience in online reviews, with one person writing: “What an amazing place, lots of really interesting artefacts and vehicles to get up close to.
“We benefited from a guided tour when we arrived which laid the foundation for our day and also booked a visit to the poster room”.
Another added: “London underground depot is definitely worth a visit. Very interesting to know the history of the underground“.
Brits who can’t wait until April to visit the Museum Depot should head to the London Transport Museum.
Here’s a full-sized railway in Europe that costs £2 to ride and is entirely run by children.
And this is an abandoned underground station that kept Sir Winston Churchill safe and helped win World War 2.
