This is a big step in London Transport Museum’s mission to introduce the next generation, especially girls, to the vast array of rewarding careers in transport engineering
The new Future Engineers Gallery is a hands on experience that aims to encourage young people to consider a career in engineering. The museum says the next generation of engineers can experience ‘driving’ or operating a modern train inspired by an Elizabeth Line AVENTRA 345 train manufactured by Bombardier Transportation in a recreated train cab, use control buttons and a computer system to drive through tunnels, pull in to a platform and find out how clever engineering can solve challenging scenarios.
As well as this, The Fix That Train challenge gives visitors a taste of what it’s like to mend a train and shows how technology helps with train maintenance and safety. There is also The Ticketing exhibit Go With The Flow, a partnership with Cubic Transportation Systems, which shows how ticketing has evolved from the early days of manually operated machines to today’s contactless payments. Objects include a Bell Punch ticket machine, in use on the network from 1893 to 1958 and a palm scanner by Cubic Transportation Systems shows how, in a future world, a human might become their ticket.
“From fixing a train in our ‘fixer’ challenge to having your palm scanned by the latest ticketing technology, our new Future Engineers gallery is great fun and challenges our visitors’ perceptions of engineering,” said Sam Mullins, Director of London Transport Museum. The future London will be shaped by engineers; our new gallery asks how much of a dreamer, planner or fixer you are, creating a fresh view of the skills and mindsets needed to make a career as an engineer.”
Young people and children can also have fun with the Future Job Generator activity, in collaboration with Microsoft, by choosing the type of engineer they could become. Youngsters and teens can work out what personality type they are to help them select a suitable future job – before taking the ultimate selfie with a photograph of themselves in their new engineering role on a digital cover of The Engineer magazine.
Other must see engineering objects and exhibitions at London Transport Museum
- An original horse tram from 1882 – these vehicles were first introduced in London in 1861
- The Digging Deeper gallery, which explores the history of tunnelling and the development of the revolutionary Greathead tunnelling shield
- One of the oldest electric locomotives in Britain and its windowless ‘padded cell’ carriage – built for the oldest Underground electric railway in the world, the City & South London Railway which opened in 1890
- The Secret Life of a Megaproject exhibition, which uncovers lesser-known stories about the Crossrail project
- Inspired by real-time information, the Connections map uses software that shows all the capital’s buses on the move across London at the same time
