Thames Tunnel Opening

It's pretty clear from the comments that many had the same experiences and sentiments as I: Only on for 2 days!; During extensive engineering works!
It was still being publicised on TV long after it was sold out - which suggests the publicity machine was out of sync with reality.
As an engineer I am sick and tired of seeing money hosed against the wall putting naff, so called, "art" on display at London's museums, but when there's a hint of celebrating some of our engineering wonders, a pisspoor half-hearted effort is made.
A lamentable performance for all involved to be ashamed of.

We headed there today. Pretty lame that it was arranged when the Jubilee was down, but when we finally managed to get down there, we found out it was sold out and we couldn't get tickets there anyway. So yeah, really poorly organised and publicised. Feel sorry for the guys at Brunel who got dumped with a tough situation. But really hoping they arrange more days!

Just found out about this and it's already too late! Very dissapointed in the advertising and duration of this event!

What a great shame for all the people who visit Brunels many structures to get such a limited opportunity to do what half of London did when the tunnel was first opened. Brunel, always the showman, would have been appalled if he were still alive.

Only read about this in Friday's (12.03.10) Evening Standard and it turns out tickets sold out on Wednesday anyway. Why only two days and why so badly publicised? One of London's hidden gems and seems it will remain so. Poor show from the Museum of London. PLEASE arrange more days and let us know this time. I'm local and so many people knew nothing about this and would have loved to go.

Am usually late in reading te papers, so only found out about this 1 hour ago and got excited planning my Mothers Day outing, only to realise that the opening was fro Friday and Saturday. As I am currently in the process of having my hair cut and it is at least 1 and a half hours away, don't think I can make it in time. Also see that the tickets were sold out on Wednesday. Perhaps this could be advertised well in advance next time and open for a longer period.

Hey there, could someone please comment on the 'underwater fair' at the end of the tunnel?

The organisers must have known that not many people could get there because it's hard to get to and many tubes are shut at the weekend.

This is what they really mean by 'broken Britain'. People who couldn't run a party in a brewery take your money (as Christopher says) and give you nothing.

We've got to get this country, especially the London area, organised. At least the election's coming and we can vote for change.

Phoned up the Transport Museum this morning and apparently tickets sold out on Wednesday.

Absolutely!! Only heard this morning and there is no way I can get there! TWO days I could cry......Already been to the museum, excellent, (even though there was some filming going on when we were there) thought someone would have let us know. Shame on the organisers!! If only we could have known...... and WHY only 2 days!??

It seems a shame that such an historic engineering feat should be open for such a woefully short time. Not even a whole weekend, surely it should have been open for at least a couple of weeks before being put back into use as a train tunnel, seemingly forever.
I for one am sad to have missed such an opportunity. The publicity all seems to have been rather last minute. The Museum of London seems to have failed its public on this occasion

Actually, the tunnel won't be 'sealed up forever', it will have trains running through it as part of the Overground line (between Rotherhithe and Wapping). Apparently it has been agreed that the lights in the tunnel will be left permanently on so passengers will be able to see the arches (you will also get a great view of the entrance from Wapping station platform).

I managed to get a ticket for the tour last night - interesting and knowledgable speakers and am glad I did it, but woeful organisation by the Museum (including the LT Museum website for booking tickets which was dreadful!). Arrived at the Brunel Museum and joined the queue for what we thought was the tunnel walk, but later found out it was just to see the main entrance (though it was interesting!). Meant we were an hour late for our time slot but still managed to see the tunnel. Others with later timeslots who had also mistakenly joined the wrong queue were not so lucky as us - they were turned away from the tunnel despite having valid tickets!

There was no signage and no sense of organisation at all at the museum site, but the tour was run well (when we eventually found it)

Someone with some commercial nous *please* grab an organiser or two, knock some heads together and arrange a few more days. You can see from the reaction that the demand is there. We have the money and the desire to spend it to see Brunel's work. That is all.