Open weekend at the Transport Museum's overflow depot

Join London Transport Museum at their Depot in Acton to celebrate the world-famous London logo: the roundel. The Museum Depot, which is usually closed to the public, will be opening its doors on the weekend of 24 and 25 September 2016 for the A Logo for London Open Weekend.

Visitors will have the chance to see part of the Museum’s extended collection, consisting of over 320,000 historical transport and design objects, which are not on display at the Museum’s main site in Covent Garden.

The event will explore how the roundel, which was chosen as a transport Design Icon in a public vote held to celebrate public transport, has made London Transport one of the most recognisable brands in the world. Guests can take part in themed arts and crafts activities, curator-led tours, and also discover restored buses, trams and Tube carriages, listen to talks and get involved in family fun.

Families, design fans and transport enthusiasts can celebrate the iconic roundel with the following activities:

· Go on a scavenger hunt and find some of the weird and wonderful examples of early roundel designs, including one featuring a Native American Chief

· Find out more about Edward Johnston, the man who redesigned the roundel and developed the London Underground typeface, with an expert-led talk

· Head to the Depot poster store and find out more about Frank Pick – the Managing Director of London Underground in the 1920s who branded the network and devised the roundel – with a tour exploring some of the most famous posters he commissioned, including works by surrealist artist Man Ray

· Get creative and print your own roundel canvas tote bag to take home

· Listen to a talk from historian Oliver Green on the story of trams and trains over the last 100 years. Hear how the vision of Managing Director of London Underground Frank Pick brought different modes of transport together under a unified brand

· Visit the family zone, where kids can take part in arts and crafts workshops designing their own logo for London, have fun in the soft play zone or join an object handling session for children

The Museum Depot, which is only open occasionally to the public, is a treasure trove of the capital’s transport history, housing a range of objects including posters, vehicles, maps, signs and models. Other activities at A Logo for London include:

· Seeing restored buses, trams, Tube carriages and taxis from the past 150 years of transport in the capital, which visitors can climb aboard to visit another era

· Seeing gravity defying moves from The Urban Playground Team, the original performance-parkour company, as they take you on a whistle-stop tour through STEAM, their show inspired by silent movies, the Wild West and James Bond

· Playing on a bouncy bus and riding on a miniature railway

· Watching archival films on the design of London Transport's trains and vehicles; about the extension of the Piccadilly line in 1930-32 showing the new stations designed by Holden and typographer Eichii Kono on the New Johnston typeface

· Taking a scenic ride around West London on a heritage bus tour

· Climbing aboard the Metropolitan Railway ‘Jubilee’ carriage, the only surviving example of a stock built by Craven Brothers of Sheffield in 1892 to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. The carriage was restored by London Transport Museum in 2013 and features a beautiful wooden livery with gold leaf lettering

· Taking a family tour of the Depot - perfect for transport enthusiasts of all ages

· Exploring the Museum’s collection of scale models of Underground stations

· Seeing the largest collection of London transport signage which includes samples spanning over 150 years and from bygone eras, such as signs for Waiting Rooms and Station Toilets, with examples of different font prototypes, layouts and design styles on display

· Enjoying delicious street food and refreshments from Street Dots traders, and relaxing in an outdoors Food Village complete with a mini picnic green