Acton Depot

A chance spot on the Ian Visits newsletter presented me with the chance to tick off somewhere I've always wanted to visit, but never found the time - Acton Depot. Home to the bulk of the London Transport artefacts collection. The depot doesn't host that many open days, and by chance this time it was a Friday/Saturday session, so I quickly booked the end of the week off work, and bought myself a ticket. Weirdly, this works better for me than weekends, which are in short supply at this time of year. Entry is timed, but they were pretty relaxed about this, letting me in an hour early. I wasn't sure how long it would take me to cross town, less than expected thanks to an efficient underground system!The depot is big. Eight platforms of underground (not just tube) trains, plus buses and a couple of trams. Plus half a million smaller items apparently. It was all a bit "woah!" to start with. I needed three circuits to get my head around it properly. I won't claim to be any sort of LT expert,…