On the 21st October 2022, the London Transport Museum opened it's doors for a "Museum Late". They do this periodically and this is the first one that I have been able to attend.
My wife came with me to this one and it was more convenient to drive this time, rather than use the train.
I had seen the advert through the mailings that they send out and and thought that this would be a good one to go to. The advert said:
"Come to this special Friday Late celebrating the opening of the Capital’s new high-speed railway, the Elizabeth line!
Enjoy nostalgic games and creative activities hosted by historical costumed characters from different decades of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, from hopscotch and snakes and ladders to wristband making and balloon modelling. Show off your design skills as you build your own railway station and test your knowledge of London’s latest railway line in a fun pub-style quiz. Learn about the development of the Elizabeth line, and how the museum is documenting the journey of its launch - and try ‘driving’ an Elizabeth line train yourself!"
On the day, they put out the following post on Facebook with this image.
"At tonight's Museum Late, Chris Nix, the Museum’s Assistant Director of Collections and Engagement and co-presenter of the #HiddenLondon Hangouts will explore the history of the #ElizabethLine and how plans for the railway we know today were first proposed more than 100 years ago! If you didn't get a ticket to our sold out Late, tune in to the Museum's Instagram at 8:30pm for a live stream of Chris's talk."
As I had never been to one of these events before, I didn't really know what to fully expect, but was looking forward to going. We arrived slightly early and thought that we might be turned away, but the staff member on the door said that we could go and wait in the canteen upstairs, so up we went. At this point Chris Nix was chatting with Alex Grundon and I had the opportunity to talk with them both briefly. My wife said that I was "star struck" as I have been watching the Hidden London Hangout series on YouTube, which episode 101 was going to air the day after the night at the museum. On the way into the museum, we met Luke "Tubemapper" and had a chance to talk with him.
There was a poster with a schedule for the evening in the main shop entrance. So much to pack into one evening! The countdown was on and then it was time to go in. I just wanted to do everything, but there just wasn't enough time! We went through, not knowing which way to go, so followed the crowd of people. Some went around one way, some went up in the lift and then promptly came back down. We did find our way around onto the main floor, where we were greeted by various people in different attire to show the different Eras that they represented.
We managed to get into the first talk, which was packed out with people. Not wanting to miss anything, we dashed out and went to the canteen. ready for the quiz. There were some really easy questions like "How many stations are there on the Elizabeth line?" (41 for those that don't know). Then there were some more obscure questions like "How many sleepers have been laid?" & "On average how many times a day do the platform doors open and close?" and some even more obscure questions, that I had no idea of the answer. The quiz sheets were handed back in at the end, presumably this is so that nobody shares the answers anywhere and so they can be used again. We gave it our best and got 15 out of 30. Not quite enough to get a prize, but was good fun.
On the main floor, there were lots of activities and a trailer that was a bar (which I may have visited!) and I met Geoff Marshall (#PurpleTrain) and Tim Dunn, who very kindly posed for a photo. I said to Geoff that we had driven to the event from Stratford-upon-Avon and he was most disappointed that we didn't drive to Reading and then get the Elizabeth line from there! Aside the cost factor, my wife uses a wheelchair, so we would have to drive to our nearest station and pay for parking, change trains at Leamington Spa, change trains at Reading and then walk from Tottenham Court Road, as Covent Garden is not step free! This would make it a really long journey and we would have to stay overnight somewhere as train services would have stopped running by the time that we would have got out after closing.
It was great to have a look around the museum at night and to see how some things had changed since my last visit. If you have not been to the museum before, I would say to go in the daytime and take your time, so that you can stop and read the information on display, as this can take a couple of hours. We had a great time and I would highly recommend going to one of these evenings, if you can. I did get an email from the museum after the event asking for feedback, which I did send to them. The only thing that would have made it better is to make it longer, as I didn't manage to go to tall the talks that were on and I didn't manage to do all the activities that were laid out and I dashed around the museum without having chance to read anything on the walls, or have a go at driving an Elizabeth line train.
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