Transported

   This weekend has been fairly quiet for me.  We had two days off in a row and Saturday was devoted to homework; though I did take a break that night to treat myself to some gelato.

   Today held a bit more excitement as I walked to Covent Garden and visited the London Transport Museum.  This is a really fun museum where visitors can explore the history of transportation in London.  In order to reach the beginning of the exhibit you take an elevator back in time!  Check it out.

 

   It was very interesting to see how transportation has evolved over 200 years.  I was especially struck by what a large role horses played before engines.  It seems obvious, but it’s something I've never really thought of before.  From hackneys to the omnibus, London really was run on horse power.  I learned that by 1900 London’s public transport relied on more than 50,000 horses.  These horses all had to be cared for: housed, groomed, fed, doctored, etc.  Apparently it was a common sight to see a horse collapse in its harness in the middle of the street.  And can you imagine the “exhaust”?  Every day the horses produced more than 1000 tons of dung.  Because of this there were workers, often young boys who lived on the streets, who were paid (very little) to clean the streets behind the many carts and carriages.

  As the population of London exploded, so did the perimeter of the city.  More and more people needed a way to get where they needed to be.  Innovations to solve this problem included the underground (the first in the world) and eventually the motorized busses.  One of the other fascinating things for me were the many ideas people came up with to help the problem of overcrowded transportation.

What do you think?  Would it work?

  Transportation in London is very important, and is ever improving.  The new Crossrail system is currently being constructed and expected to be completed in 2018.  There is always something better around the corner!