Next month is a chance to have a look around both the Transport Museum’s overflow warehouse, and the Heathrow Express train depot on the same day.
Over the weekend of 26th-27th September, the Acton warehouse where the Transport Museum stores its heritage trains, buses and ephemera is having one of its semi-regular open weekends.
Highlights at the Museum Depot include:
- See the original printing blocks used for the Johnston font – London Transport’s typeface
- Discover more about the vehicles with talks
- Find out how moquette – the seat covering on the tube – is made, from design to manufacture, with a talk from Harriet Wallace-Jones, of the Wallace#Sewell textile design studio
- Explore the Depot through bite size family tours
- Film screenings from the LTM archive
Entry to the Acton Depot is £10 (children free).
You can turn up on the day, but the queue is often lengthy, so booking in advance is recommended.
However, on the Saturday only, there will also be behind-the-scenes tours of the Siemens Heathrow Express Depot.
Design activities at the Siemens Heathrow Express Depot open day:
- Find out about how Siemens trains are designed.
- Hear about the recent re-design of the Heathrow Express Class 332 interior.
Other activities at the Heathrow Express Depot open day:
- See a train up on jacks ready for maintenance.
- Take a walk under a stationary train to see how it’s maintained.
- Visit show and tell sessions to get hands-on with real train parts and how they work.
- Sit in a driver’s train cab and ask a train driver questions.
There will be a free shuttle bus service between the two depot sites, which are just a few miles apart.
