Ipswich Transport Museum Ipswich Transport Museum, Old Trolleybus Depot, Cobham Road, Ipswich IP3 9JD, United Kingdom

The Ipswich Transport Museum is a museum in Ipswich, Suffolk, England devoted principally to the history of transport and engineering objects made or used in its local area.

The Ipswich Transport Museum has the largest collection of transport items in Britain devoted to just one town. Everything was either made or used in and around Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk. 

A brief history of the collection can be found on this website. The collections also include the Ipswich Engineering Collection; displays and objects celebrating the rich engineering history of Ipswich. The museum has around 100 major exhibits and many small items connected with transport in Ipswich.

The museum is disabled friendly being on one level only.

Public Access

The Museum is open for at least 90 days a year to the general public, generally on Sundays, Bank Holidays and Monday to Friday afternoons in school holidays. We currently welcome 6000 to 7000 visitors each year. We also open during the day or evenings for group visits by societies and clubs with the option of a guided tour. We also welcome schoolchildren of all ages for a guided tour which links to the National Curriculum.

The Museum receives no revenue support from local or national government, other than that Ipswich Borough Council waive their right to 20% of the Uniform Business Rate. The Museum can only exist through raising money from the public paying to see the collections, from its trading subsidiary and through donations and sponsorship. However, we also recognise our wider responsibilities for encouraging research and interest in our collections, and therefore provide free access to those wishing to study our collections. The Museum is generally accessible on one level (there is a small step into the tea room, assistance is given where needed) and is equipped with accessible toilet facilities.

Museum Collections

The Museum contains a large exhibition hall, which houses various transport and engineering displays. The Hall is not subject to environmental controls but the external insulated cladding shell prevents sudden changes of temperature and of relative humidity.

The collections contain a diverse range of materials, including wooden and metal construction, allied to animal products such as leather. As a consequence it is difficult to establish an optimum environment for all exhibits within this hall. Specialist collections are housed in separate rooms which do have some measure of control.

Virtually all of the transport related objects belonging to Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service are displayed within our Museum. This reflects the good spirit of cooperation which exists between the two Ipswich museums. Transport Collection Road transport material made or operated in the Ipswich area, currently divided into the following displays:-

•      Fire fighting
•      Horse drawn vehicles
•      Wheelchairs and perambulators
•      Local delivery vehicles
•      Replica cycle shop
•      Public Transport
•      Bicycles and motor bicycles (including mopeds)
•      Road haulage
•      Service vehicles
•      Replica garage workshop

Other forms of transport are featured in displays incorporating small exhibits, models, photographs and archives, including:

•      Airborne Transport
•      Railway Transport
•      Waterborne Transport

Small exhibits are housed in appropriate containers in a dedicated store on metal racking.

Engineering Collection

Engineering products of the Ipswich area, including those from:-

•      Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies
•      Bull Motors
•      Cocksedge & Co.
•      Ransomes & Rapier
•      Gas supply and distribution
•      Telephone & radio communications
•      Electricity supply and distribution
•      Motor engineering

These collections include full sized objects ranging from mobile cranes, forklift trucks and factory trucks to lawn mowers and small exhibits. Further interpretation is made with the use of photographs and display panels.