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New Aquisitions
The Friends have recently funded the following acquisitions for the Museum collections:
An LNER "winking eye" enamel sign for Northolt Park station (pictured alongside);
A stock certificate for the North London Tramways Company; and
A pre-first world war poster for Hampstead.
The Museum's collections catalogue now lists 400,000 items, thanks to recent input and updating by Friends' volunteers. Friends' efforts have also enabled the number of photographs available on line to reach a total 20,000, doubling the number since on-line access started in 2004.
Heritage tube cars on the move
Four historic Underground cars have moved into London Underground's Acton Works, as work starts on their restoration. The four cars (known as "Q-stock") date from the 1923 to 1938 period. They are typical of the trains used on the District and East London Lines, from that pre-war period until their eventual withdrawal in the early 1970s.
The initial work on all four cars will cover asbestos removal (by a specialist contractor) and inspection and testing of the wheelsets and bogies. This will be followed by restoration of the interior and external bodywork of at least three of the cars to display condition. Similar restoration of the fourth car, which will need more work than the others, will be dependant upon a full examination of its condition and on funding.
The initial restoration work is being financed by the London Transport Museum Friends, from subscriptions, donations and legacies. It is part of a wider joint project, in partnership with the London Transport Museum, the Museum Friends and London Underground, to support the conservation and operation of heritage Underground trains.
The ultimate objective is the restoration of all four Q-stock cars to operational condition. An operational restoration will require considerable further funding, currently estimated at around £1.6 million. Fundraising plans are being put in place to achieve this, with the intention of having the cars running again by 2013 - the 150th anniversary of the first Underground trains in London.
New Acquisitions
Recent acquisitions by the Friends (for the Museum) have included: some postcards for the Suburbia exhibition; a watercolour picture of an East Ham Corporation tramcar; photographs of an Electrobus; and a 1928 Metropolitan Railway poster, advertising through tickets to Tottenham Hotspur FC.
The Friends recently acquired at auction, also on behalf of the Museum, a small collection of First World War bus tickets, each with a wartime slogan. As the text on the back of each ticket has been translated into French, it is presumed they were at one time owned by a French enthusiast. A photo of the collection appears alongside.