Morning:
14°c
Some fares could fall by more than a third when Oyster is extended to every national rail station in London, it has emerged
More...
New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Evening Standard rating
Reader rating
£22 million journey: a 1947 promotional poster, part of the museum's unrivalled collection
The dramatic entrance hall at Canary Wharf Tube station
'Cast Iron Billy', a London bus driver of 40 years' service
Remember the old Tube trains and escalators with their wooden slatted treads jammed with cigarette stubs, and the smoke-stink of that plushy geometric moquette upholstery?
If so, the £22 million-refurbished London Transport Museum in Covent Garden is one stop to nostalgia-heaven, for here is a carriage from one of those trains, with a clever video at the end of people getting on and off, including the platforms flashing past and a lounging punk, that is astonishingly realistic. It is one of many new interactive effects the museum is rather proud of.
Although still housed in the vaulted Victorian flower market, nothing else is old-fashioned now. Effort and cash from the Heritage Lottery Fund have been thrown at the "journey" one is encouraged to take through the museum, using sound, video and some peepshow-type devices to amuse younger travellers.
You start with a chatty time-travel lift that whisks you up to the top floor and the late 18th century, with costers' cries giving way to the clip-clop of dray horses' hooves. The first thing you see is an original sedan chair - vehicles that were once the scourge of Covent Garden - crouching on its poles outside the lift doors.
From there, take a whistle-stop tour down through the levels of the museum and through time: sparklingly maintained horse-drawn omnibuses (how did Victorian women in crinolines mount the steep steps of the Clapham omnibus without flashing their pantalettes?), electric trams, the first steam-driven underground train (a horrible idea, so a great relief when far-fetched electrified trains replaced them), the "padded cell" of the first electric underground carriage from 1890, inside which you feel the passengers' vivid horror in that windowless space, to 20th century Green Line and Routemaster buses at ground level. Costumed dummies bring these to life, while a gleaming early Austin cab with running boards and leather top make one long for the 1920s.
There is a useful corner for tots to play in their own taxi, bus and train. An interactive Tube driver's cabin with a simulated "tunnel" film is available for anyone a bit older to try - but, despite being aimed at improving citizenship skills, there will be skirmishes over who goes next.
The nerdiness of the old museum has largely gone. Models are good, and the museum's archive of 5,000 transport posters is very good. The café, with cute moquette banquettes, promises to offer a cocktail called an Anorak, and in the shop you can buy a toy rabbit called Hampstead for £9.99.
Among numerous riveting exhibits is a video of the earliest "cut and cover" technique for building Tube tunnels, in 1860: a vast section of the city was simply dug up, causing total chaos, a "tube" of metal and brick sunk into it and the whole thing covered up again. A model alongside shows the rampant hell this caused for anyone trying to get about. And we worry about the East London line.
* London Transport Museum, 39, Wellington Street, WC2. 020 7565 7299, www.ltmuseum.co.uk. Tickets vary, under-16s free.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I visited recently and thought it was fantastic! Lots of interesting facts and displays about the history of London and how its expansion was fuelled by the development of the transport systems. Kids will love the vintage Tube carriages. And when you stand in front of a typical London bus, you suddenly realise quite how huge they are!
- Jenny Croft, London, UK
Sounds fantastic, cant wait to get to see it. After a holiday to Hong Kong last month and seeing how fantastic it is, its just great to see London getting it together. It is the city in the world to visit. Congratulations LONDON.
- Selwyn Channon, Epsom UK
