The new museum is *very* disappointing. Acres of unused floorspace,
indeed every refit since 1980 has seen more large exhibits removed.
Just four buses - a B-type, RM, DMS and rather untypical TF. No RT-
family type which in one form or other equalled the Routemasters 50
years at London 's service, and I noted two incorrect exhibit captions
without really looking. There is plenty of political correctness on
show here now, lots of emphasis on Caribbean recruitment and the
mannequin bus driver of DMS 1 is, of course, a woman. And why not,
"representing the diversity of the London TFL serves etc"? Except of
course that DMS 1 is portrayed in its 1971 "first day in service"
mode, no adverts and blinded for route 220. Yet there weren't any
female LT bus drivers until 1975 because the organisation wouldn't
allow them until forced to by the 1974 Sex Discrimination Act! Oh, and
she's wearing grey uniform and these didn't come in until 1974 either!
Maybe it's not nice to realise that LT once considered women unfit for
all but the lowest grades, but to suggest otherwise is falsifying
history! Next to the Q Stock car is a nice display of traditional LT
1950s/50s guard's equipment - red & green flags, door control key,
whistle and oil lamp, but incongruously also including a metal "J-door
key" (used to access train cabs) which didn't appear until the
mid-80s!!! Lots of nods to TFL's new responsibilities - cycling, taxis
and boats - which hardly have any relevance to the museum's core
interests surely? Ditto traffic lights now sit on the main floor, but
boring bog-standard modern versions rather than black & white banded
early examples with "stop" and "go" respectively on the red and green
lenses. A huge area is given over another inclusive "world cities"
montage, when LT has enough design heritage to cover such a space 1000
times over. Considerable space is also taken up by various "kids"
zones on several levels, and much of the whole museum seems to be
aimed at children with various "activity" features (some of which even
work!). If you're interested in such esoteric subjects as tickets,
ticket machines, e-plates, train destination plates, signage, cap
badges or staff uniforms, you'll find little or nothing to interest
you here (indeed for such a hugely uniformed organisation, there are
only about two or three LT cap badges in the whole place and probably
more on e-bay at any given time!). Yes much of the "missing" material
can be seen at Acton "Depot" store but this doesn't excuse its
omission at Covent Garden . Clearly, it is no longer the " London
Transport Museum " (i.e. the museum of LT the organisation) but if it
is now the " London transport museum" (i.e. the museum of transport
*in* London ), they why are not the suburban operations of the SR and
LNER not given their due credit? And when it comes to influence on the
lives of Londoners, a Mk1 Ford Cortina (built in London, by Londoners,
and the plant LT buses served) would be more relevant than, say,
banging on about up-market yuppie river services? Presumably it is
actually the " Museum of Transport *for* London " although seeking not
to trade under that name. Indeed one new display makes sure the
current head of TFL (i.e. Ken Livingstone) and his team get a glowing
report in a way that was never ever done for current personalities in
the days of LRT and LT. I'm not sure what the museum is supposed to
be for these days and I'm not sure they do either... To paraphrase an
old V&A advert "an ace shop with a naff museum attached".