The Rich History of London's Transportation System - Part I / 伦敦交通博物馆 之一

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I recently had the pleasure of visiting the Transport Museum, which I feel is one of the most interesting museums in London. It showcases the history of this great city's world-renowned transport system from way back in the 1800's. It is also home to the "vintage" iconic red London buses as well as early examples of tube trains, maps and transport posters. I always love design and history so this particular museum is right up my street!

Located in the heart of Covent Garden, you can just jump off the tube literally at Covent Garden station. A few minutes walk up towards The Piazza and you'll see it right in front of you.

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The entrance for the London Transport Museum is via it's on-site gift shop, which was always bustling with tourists on the weekend. It offers a wide collection of travel and London Underground memorabilia. The gift shop also includes a section where you can choose to print authentic looking older style Tube ads in any size/finish of your choosing.

The Museum entrance ticket is £17.50 full price for adults but kids can go in for free. If I am being perfectly honest, the price is a bit steep however it is valid for a full 12 months so you can reuse it as many times as you like! I am glad I got around to visiting this cultural epicenter of British travel history as the museum turned out to be amazing. It was not just filled with historical transportation spiel of old, but really gives an insight into life in London through the ages. It was well worth spending the money to check it out in my opinion.

Firstly, we walked through a rather narrow walkway, where illustrations on the walls highlighted different representations of transport systems around the world, such as New York, Tokyo, Paris, Shanghai as well as London. Much more interesting than I had imagined it to be!

We then took the “time travel lift” up to the second level. Interestingly enough, the screen displayed not only the floor number but the year as well, so we fast tracked backward from 2018 to the 19th century. Very cool indeed!

As soon as the elevator doors opened, we were rolling back the years to the early 1800's. Right in front of us was the capital’s first licensed public transport – the sedan chair! This chair was carried via two poles connected either side of the carriage and could be hired out for short journeys in Central. London transportation started out as an option only afforded to the wealthiest of citizens, with eachsedan chair having it's own unique license and number.

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From 1805, the horse-drawn omnibus was introduced serving as a new type of coach service in London. The omnibus is beautifully painted with flower-bordered designs, some of them accommodating room for up to 22 passengers inside.

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Going down to the lower levels of the museum via the spiral stairs, we came across the very first passenger railway – travelling from London Bridge to Greenwich in 1833 as well as the classic steam train “Metropolitan number 23“.

I was very impressed by this lavish museum and the historical information it offers. It tells of many stories and includes plenty of interactive exhibits. Most of the trains you can touch, even walk inside and sit down in. A section on the upper level comprises of interesting games to keep the kids busy as well.

I learned so many knowledgeable facts on my time spent there. For example, there were "ladies only" sections on the early trains. Also, the look, feel and style of the seat patterns over the years has changed drastically too. It was a memorable journey through time and showed how the state of our transportation has transformed over the years.

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Worth mentioning also is of the convenient tea break area for customers to relax at.

(To Be Continued)

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相信来过英国的朋友都不会忘记这里标志性的红色双层巴士吧，呵呵！我今天就要带大家来看看伦敦交通博物馆。这里展示了英国交通过去200年的历史，包括伦敦巴士，早期火车，地图以及交通海报等等。我很喜欢设计和历史，所以来看伦敦交通博物馆，感觉特别兴奋！

博物馆位于考文垂花园广场附近。从考文垂花园地铁站出来，步行几分钟就到了，很方便。

伦敦交通博物馆的入口是经过博物馆商场，周末这里游客特别多，非常热闹。商店蛮大的，从印着地铁线路的T恤或手提袋， 到汽车模型，海报和陶瓷杯子等家居品，真是应有尽有！你还可以按自己喜好的大小和款式打印出复古的地铁广告作为纪念哦！想为家人或朋友带回一些有创意的礼品，来这里就对了，呵呵！

博物馆门票是17.50 英镑成人票，小孩可以免费入场。与众多免费的伦敦博物馆相比，这里显得有点贵，不过门票是可以在一年之内可以多次使用。我看完博物馆以后，还是觉得这钱挺值得花。因为伦敦交通博物馆不仅陈列了古老的交通运输工具，还为大家展示了伦敦千百年来生活的变迁，的确很有意思！

进门以后，我们首先通过了一条狭窄的走道。墙上布满了世界各地的地铁图以及小视频，如纽约，东京，巴黎，上海和伦敦，很有新意！

然后我们乘坐“时空穿梭电梯”上升到二楼。有趣的是，电梯里屏幕显示的不是楼层而是年代，哈哈！从2018年我们一直倒退到19世纪。

电梯开门，迎面看到的就是伦敦第一个有车牌的公共交通工具 – “轿车“！它其实就是一把椅子通过两侧的两根杆子由一人在前一人在后扛着，可以用作短途出租。这和咱们中国以前的轿子没两样嘛，呵呵！伦敦最初的交通工具是富人的专利，每个轿车都有自己的车牌号码。

从1805年开始，四轮和两轮的马车在伦敦诞生了，成为一种新型的长途客车服务。这个公共汽车的设计和颜色都比之前的版本要明亮，大气。其中最大的马车可容纳多达22名乘客。

顺着盘旋的楼梯走下一层，我们看到了第一条客运铁路火车从伦敦桥开到格林威治，还有当年的蒸汽火车头“Metropolitan number 23“！

博物馆内展出的各种交通工具都有详尽介绍，给我留下了深刻的印象，如伦敦地下铁的建造设计过程中发生的有趣故事，馆内还有许多特别设计的互动式设备，比如很多展品都可以让人用手触摸，火车上有些车厢开放让游客参观，甚至游客还可以亲自站到驾驶座的位子体验一下操作情形！不仅小孩子玩得开心，连大人们也看得兴致勃勃，呵呵。

我也增长了不少见识，看到了早期火车上的女士专用车厢，目睹了火车地铁上座椅图案随着年代变迁的风格转型，从马车到地铁，从汽船到火车，我几乎看到了整个伦敦从19世纪以来的发展变革！顿时对这座城市，有了更亲切的感觉。

值得一提的是，这儿有便利游客的休息区域。

（未完待续）