[image]
[title]London is a-buzz and that’s not just because of heat or the football. The story of electricity and the many ways it’s transformed transport across the capital is finally getting its moment in the sun at London Transport Museum. With a packed programme, perfect for curious minds young and old, here are five reasons why you and the whole family should head to London Transport Museum this summer.
1. Get creative by designing your own traffic light
Did you know that the first electric traffic lights came to London in 1926? Nice bit of pub quiz trivia, that. Since their debut along Piccadilly, electric traffic lights have helped keep the capital moving. As they approach their 100th anniversary, there’s no better time to celebrate this bright idea. Got any innovators in the family? Treat the kids (and the adults) to the unique experience of designing their own traffic lights.
2. Time travel to the Victorian electric underground railway
The Tube has come a pretty long way since its steam locomotive ancestors first began operating in London in 1863. Later, pioneering electric railway technology transformed underground travel, making journeys across London faster and easier. While they probably wouldn’t be your first choice for a commute today, you can’t help but wonder what stepping into one of those carriages must’ve been like. Thankfully, you’ll get the chance to meet a Victorian passenger and enjoy an imaginary journey on this groundbreaking underground railway.
3. Try your hand at coding a mini railway
Roll up your sleeves and get stuck into this unmissable opportunity to code your own electric toy train on a mini railway. Using smart Intelino train sets, flex your engineering ingenuity by tinkering with electric codes along the tracks. An introduction to the ways technology powers modern transport systems, this is the ideal activity for any little engineers in your life.
4. Get inspired by London’s very first electric buses
As modern as they may sound, electric buses have been trundling through London streets for 120 years, including trolleybuses that were powered by electricity from overhead wires. This summer, seize the opportunity to tinker with your own model bus, understand the big decisions that early engineers had to tackle and figure out how to make your bus strong enough to carry a heavy load.
5. Lose yourself in arts and crafts pop ups all summer long
While you’ll be spoilt for choice with activities that capture how electrical innovations have shaped London’s public transport, the programme of family fun doesn’t end there. Partners of London Transport Museum have got you covered with exciting arts and crafts sessions all through the summer. Make a spinning windmill with John Wesley’s House, design a new way to pay in the future with the Bank of England Museum or decorate a beautiful keepsake box with St Paul’s Cathedral, where lights were first installed in 1902.
Whichever sessions you take your little ones to, you can be sure that this electric summer at London Transport Museum will spark some bright ideas.
Free with museum admission, book today.