| Train-spotting for librarians: a
quick-reference guide SALLY
CHAMBERS
This piece reports on the visit,
organised by the North and South Thames Division, to the London
Transport Museum Library on 4 February 2000 and originally appeared in
the North and South Thames Divisional Newsletter.
It was like going back stage in a theatre. We were ushered through a
staff only entrance at the back of the Museum, and to my surprise,
outside (!) and into another building a few metres down the road.
According to Jo Grant, Assistant Information Librarian at the London
Transport Museum, the plan is to physically link the main gallery to 35
Wellington Street, the building that houses the library. However, for
now, I am glad that it wasn't raining! Jo led us up a regally carpeted
staircase, decorated with black and white photographs depicting many
different scenes of transport in London through the ages. There was an
excellent photograph of a group of women during the war, welding heavy
machinery, with sparks flying and faces blackened. It was interesting to
learn throughout the visit the role that women have played in London
Transport (LT) since its inception in 1933.
Following tea and biscuits, which for me is an important part of any
visit, we were welcomed to the LT Museum and its library by Sheila
Taylor, Libraries and Information Manager. Photographs, film and
reference material relating to London’s transport form the main
collections of the library. The library has had a colourful history. An
important collection of engineering drawings was found in tea chests
(that still contained tea leaves!), and on more than one occasion floors
of the library have threatened to collapse. I am surprised that the
library has managed to survive at all!
Split between the new purpose-built collections store, known as 'The
Depot', in Acton, funded by Heritage Lottery money, and the offices at
35 Wellington Street (where we are today), the LT Museum library has a
substantial collection. In the original remit of the library, it was
important that it was accessible to the public. Due to staff pressures,
and the large number of computerised catalogue records that need
creating, the library is able to open to answer enquiries on two days
per week. People can also visit the library, although it is by
appointment only. The subject areas covered by the library’s collections
are the history and achievements of London Transport and its predecessor
companies, as well as the development of London’s buses, trolleybuses,
trams and Underground. A substantial amount of material is held on the
history of London, transport architecture, art and design. Much of the
enquiry work undertaken by the LT Museum library (about 65%) focuses on
architecture, art and design.
The library contains a diverse range of special collections including
photograph albums bequeathed by train-spotters, a comprehensive
collection of LT staff magazines, and the Reinohl brothers' collection
of transport tickets and drawings of different bus liveries. Before the
advent of bus numbers, you spotted your bus by the colour and design of
its liveries. I can imagine that I would have missed plenty of buses!
One of my favourite collections was a series of writings and albums put
together by Frank Pick, the first Chief Executive of London Transport.
This collection dates from the 1920s and 1930s. The albums contain
photographs of various people. Underneath each one, Pick wrote,
sometimes quite frankly, what he thought about them. Under a photograph
of Hitler, he wrote that he was simply "common". What else can I say? As
with most libraries, space is of a premium, and soon this is going to be
tested with the arrival of the information and photographs connected
with the Jubilee line extension. Unlike most other people, I bet that
the staff at the LT Museum library weren't eager for the project to be
completed!
Currently, the LT Museum is setting up its new InfoZone, which will
incorporate the existing library catalogue and the Museum's inventory
onto an integrated information management system. The InfoZone will
enable 24-hour access to the LT Museum's collections, and therefore will
increase the number of virtual visitors, potentially from all over the
world. This integration has been a major task, as the LT Museum’s
inventory can include anything from buttons from former LT uniforms to
carriages of tube trains. Work is also underway scanning the thousands
of photographs that will form part of the interactive element of the
InfoZone. Some of these photographs will form a part of a hyper-map of
the London Underground stations. When complete, you will click on a
station and be able to see photographs of what it looked like, and learn
about its history. You will also be able to zoom in on different parts
of the photographs, and then click on them to find out more relevant
information. The InfoZone sounds like a really exciting project, which
will take the Museum firmly into the 21st century.
Finally, the visit was concluded by a guided tour of the galleries by
David Ruddom, a volunteer friend of the LT Museum, and a retired
librarian. David took us on an informative tour of the galleries,
tracing the chronology of London’s transport from the horse-drawn
omnibuses to the modern-day tubes. The Museum was moved to its site in
Covent Garden in 1980, but refurbished to its present state in 1993. We
saw trams, trolleybuses and the first motor-powered buses. Some of these
were specially modified for the war, with mesh on the windows and hooded
headlights to comply with blackout regulations. David had plenty of
facts and anecdotes that made the collections all that more real. I was
shocked to hear that the first regular woman bus driver was employed in
1974, and the first woman tube driver in 1978, both within my lifetime!
We also learned about Bumper Harris, the escalator promoter. In 1912,
when the first escalator was used in the tube, people were very wary of
this moving staircase. In order to convince people that they were safe,
LT employed a man named Harris, who had an artificial leg, to travel up
and down the escalator all day. The aim of this was to prove that, if a
man with a wooden leg can use an escalator safely, then anyone can. We
were told of the origins of the Underground Map, created by Harry Beck,
based on an electrical circuit diagram. The principles of Beck’s map
have since been used in the design of underground and metro maps around
the world.
The whole visit was very informative and interesting. I even managed to
park a tube in the station, using the tube driving simulator, only ever
over-shooting the platform by a couple of carriages! Never again will I
complain when I am stuck in a carriage, where the doors won't open
because the driver has over-shot the platform. I now know how difficult
it is! I haven't even mentioned the shop, which is full of beautiful
posters, LT-themed clothing, and videos of tube journeys filmed from
inside the driver's cab. I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and can
recommend the LT Museum highly. It certainly brought out the
trainspotter in me, as I am sure that it would in you!
Sally Chambers is EARL Liaison Officer and Secretary of the Career
Development Group North and South Thames Division.
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