At the end of April, the London Transport Museum depot at Acton is holding the first of this year’s open days to showcase the Underground’s history, with the theme for the weekend being ‘London by Design’.

The open days are being held on Friday, 26, Saturday, 27, and Sunday, 28 April.

On display will be items from the Museum’s store of over 320,000 objects that are not on display in the Covent Garden Museum.

Visitors can view the first Underground maps, early Tube logos, their favourite design icons, and classic train and bus designs.

Visitors will be able to learn about London’s transport heritage, climb on board historic Tube trains, see vintage buses, and marvel at vintage maps and signage.

The world of Frank Pick will also be explained. He was London Transport’s first Chief Executive when it was created in 1933, had a flair for design that can still be seen across the network today, including the bull’s eye roundel, Johnston font, diagrammatic Tube map, posters, station architecture, and even the moquette textile that passengers sit on.

Visitors can also enjoy a line-up of expert talks, tours, and craft workshops.

Experts will be on hand to give talks for adults.

Each day

• Why are London buses red? Volunteer Depot Guides explore the history behind one of the key aspects of London’s public transport identity.

Friday

• 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
• Rebranding London Transport Museum. Why? by Sau-Fun Mo, Head of Design of London Transport Museum.

Saturday

• For Business or Pleasure – London Transport Poster Art and its Promotion of London by Matt Brosnan, London Transport Museum’s Head Curator
• Redesigning the Tube Map by Jon Hunter, Transport for London‘s Design lead

Sunday

• Let’s Talk About Trains by Chris Nix, London Transport Museum’s Director of Content

There are also family activities, tours, food and drink and music, including:

• Mini-tours where the Museum’s Hidden London tour guides demonstrate life-like models of Underground stations
• A guided tour to find out how the Museum’s curators identify and catalogue weird and wonderful objects, some of which have never been seen in public before.
• Test your knowledge of moquette design
• Ride on the London Transport Miniature Railway.
• Design a decorative tile similar to those used on the Underground since the late 19th century.
• Design a Lego Dream City.

A talented busker will entertain visitors, and refreshments, sandwiches, and sweet treats will be available from Mini Bean Coffee and tasty Mexican food and drink from TheLilKitchen.

Adult tickets cost £17.50, children £9, and children under three go free. Concessions are available, including for residents of Ealing, Hounslow, and Hillingdon.

Further information and booking details can be found by clicking here.