Most visitors to London have a soft spot for the red double-decker, but few realise you can actually climb aboard the old ones. The London Bus Museum — based at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey — throws open its doors on special heritage days throughout the year, giving fans of classic transport the chance to see, smell and sometimes ride preserved buses from a century of London's streets.
The museum holds one of the largest collections of working historic London buses anywhere, spanning from early motor buses through to the Routemaster era. On heritage days the usually quiet hangars come alive: engines are started, routes are run, and volunteers — many of them former drivers and conductors — are on hand to talk you through the details, from the wooden staircases of pre-war models to the open rear platforms that defined the Routemaster for decades.
The real draw is the rides. Rather than static displays behind ropes, heritage running days typically put the old buses on the move, letting visitors hop between vehicles and experience travel at a gentler pace than the modern city allows. It's a hands-on day out that works as well for kids clambering to the top deck as it does for transport obsessives photographing registration plates.
Practically speaking, Brooklands is an easy day trip from central London — around 30 minutes by train from Waterloo to Weybridge, then a short walk or taxi to the site. Entry is ticketed, with details for each heritage day published on the museum's website in advance, and the venue is shared with the wider Brooklands Museum complex, so you can pair your bus fix with the site's celebrated aviation and motor racing history in a single visit.
For travellers, this is the kind of off-the-beaten-track addition that turns a standard London holiday into something more personal. Transport fans, families with young children and anyone curious about how Londoners got around in the age of trolleybuses and conductors will find plenty here. Just check the heritage day calendar before you go — these are occasional events rather than an everyday opening, and turning up on the wrong weekend means a very quiet car park. Full event details come via Secret London.
