Museum of British Transport, Clapham 1971

The image displays London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) B-type motor bus, B340, also known as “Old Bill”. The LGOC B?type, introduced in 1910, was the world?s first mass-produced motorbus with over 3,000 built before 1914. B340 carried wounded troops in London during WWI, and became the first bus to be preserved for a collection in 1924. It can be seen today at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden.

The Museum of British Transport in Clapham occupied a former London General Omnibus Company motorbus depot on Clapham High Street, originally built in 1905. After the depot closed, its vast covered interior made it an ideal space for displaying full-sized historic vehicles. The museum opened in 1961 under the British Transport Commission and quickly became the first major public museum dedicated to Britain’s transport heritage.

Inside, visitors could explore an impressive collection that included early steam locomotives, electric Underground stock, Victorian carriages, historic buses, trolleybuses, trams, and a wide variety of transport artefacts such as signs, uniforms, maps and posters. It became a popular destination for families and enthusiasts throughout the 1960s, offering one of the most comprehensive and atmospheric presentations of Britain’s transport history then available.

The museum closed in 1972 following the breakup of the British Transport Commission, and the collection was moved to a temporary site at Syon Park. Much of it later formed the basis of what became the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden, which opened in 1980.

The original Clapham depot was eventually demolished, and the site has since been redeveloped, leaving no trace of the museum that once stood there.