Transport Museum Depot

Two weekends a year the London Transport Museum allow visitors into it's depot to see all the old trains, buses and other memorabilia stored away (and which don't fit into the museum space in Covent Garden).  

Before going in we took a ride on the miniature railway.

Once inside we first went upstairs to check out the children's activity area.  We heard the story of one of the famous train cars, 353, and then the kids were encouraged to design their own transport vehicle of the future using different craft items.

K was finished first so we walked over to one of the two animators helping the kids turn their trains into movies using stop motion animation.

Here is the movie K created:

C also made a train and a movie.  

C was a good assistant, taking the picture and saving the frame while the animator moved the train across the page one inch at a time.  What patience is required for this type of animation!

I'm not sure how much the kids 'got' the technology and what was actually happening but they were super excited to see their movie.  Here is C's:

There was another interactive area teaching kids about signaling which C enjoyed.

The rest of the day we just walked around checking out all the different trains and buses.  Some were open so that you could walk around inside.

On our way outside we stopped to chat to this victorian woman...soft spoken and completely in character the entire time.

 

The favorite train of the day was the steam train outside with car '353' from the story attached to it.  The kids were able to go inside the locomotive, see the workings and pull the cord to blow the whistle - very loudly.

Overall, a fun day out and an interesting look through transport history.