London’s Screen Archives is a network of over 50 organisations with a collective vision – to preserve and share London’s history on film. The network is managed by Film London and we work with our partners to digitise, preserve, and offer access to their moving image collections.
42 Hours: Moving Customers Over the Millennium
London Underground ran its first non-stop, 42 hour service over the Millennium celebrations in 2000. This is how they did it.
Millennium Eve 1999 was a once in a century cause for celebration, and in the capital it was London Underground's responsibility to move the revellers. More than 7,000 staff and 500 trains moved over 3 million passengers during a continuous 42 hour period, carrying a normal day's traffic over 3.5 hours, and this video gives us an idea of how they did it. The viewer is given a glimpse behind the scenes at the London Underground command and control centres as they both plan and execute the mammoth task, including a war room style strategy map of the London Underground with Lego trains and signals. We also see the huge crowds bringing in the year 2000, mostly joyful but some a little worse for wear. As the clock strikes midnight, the staff pause to see if the millennium bug will derail their plans, but then it's back to stoically dealing with overcrowded stations and trains. The station staff are the real highlight of this video, larking around with party goers - including a pair of Chelsea Pensioners - and wearing comically large celebration hats while making serious phone calls.
Go behind the scenes of 50 years of London transport with this selection from the London Transport Museum's video collection.
London's transport, from the bright red Routemaster to the futuristic Docklands Light Railway, is some of the most iconic in the world. But what was actually happening behind the scenes to make sure the buses, tubes, and trains got us to where we wanted to go?
This collection of highlights from the London Transport Museum's video collection, which spans the 1970s to the mid-2000s, offers a peek into the operation rooms, underground tunnels, and bus garages that were 'Keeping London Moving', as the slogan of Transport for London proudly proclaims. In this selection, you can witness the birth of the Jubilee Line, or experience the frenzy of Millennium Eve on the Underground.
Many of the videos in this collection were made by the London Buses' in-house video department, and show that staff training videos definitely don’t have to be dull. How better to train London Underground staff on good customer service than a version of the Wizard of Oz set on the Tube?
33 videos in this collection
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Step Free Access On London Underground
2001
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Modernising the Underground
1998
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The Driverless Ghost Bus
Westminster
1986
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London Underground Train Door Safety
1995
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Implementing London's Congestion Charge
2003
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London Transport: Routes Project
1994
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London Buses: Low Floor Bus
1995
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Chancery Lane Train Crash
Camden
2003
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It’ll Never Happen
1996
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New Years Eve 2000 on London Underground
Westminster
2000
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London Buses: Clocking On with OPAL
1984
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Royal Visit to Willesden Garage
Brent
2002
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Starting on the Right Track
1986
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Station Assistance Support on the London Underground
