Guest oldlugger Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 A fascinating system now closed. I've been aware of it for years but only today have I seen it in action, in the video below. What a great subject for a model, with working third rail to boot! Maybe someone has already modelled it? Any further photos, etc would be great to see. Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oldlugger Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 A very interesting site about the line here, if not rather dodgy in its provenance... http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 There is a proposal to re-open part of this system as a tourist attraction ! XF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oldlugger Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 A great idea Nigel. What a waste though. I can feel a micro layout coming on here... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted February 28, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28, 2013 There is a diecast model of a post office underground 'train', and it is OO scale. I have only seen a photograph of it and it comes in a 'mail bag' as some sort of souvenir. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanks522 Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 A fascinating system that would make the most prototypical trainset. A very interesting site about the line here, if not rather dodgy in its provenance... http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792 I've viewed this website in the past and although a little dodgy (trespass ) i thought it was a very good record of whats there, Quite scary how abandoned it all looks though. Graham. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oldlugger Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Thanks Phil and Graham for your replies! Cheers Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted February 28, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28, 2013 website about it here: http://www.mailrail.co.uk/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted February 28, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28, 2013 It was a fabulous system but unfortunately changes in postal services meant that traffic declined dramtically. I was fortunate to see it in operation in about 1970 on a tour of Mount Pleasant sorting office. As well as going round the actual sorting office we were taken down to the platforms to see the trains running and into the workshops. Unfortuantely I didn't have a camera at the time. It's a shame that it isn't being used for something and itf the tourist scheme, which I believe is to be based at Mount Pleasant, ever gets off the ground I will certainly pay a visit. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Trainshed Terry Posted February 28, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 28, 2013 It was a fabulous system but unfortunately changes in postal services meant that traffic declined dramtically. I was fortunate to see it in operation in about 1970 on a tour of Mount Pleasant sorting office. As well as going round the actual sorting office we were taken down to the platforms to see the trains running and into the workshops. Unfortuantely I didn't have a camera at the time. It's a shame that it isn't being used for something and itf the tourist scheme, which I believe is to be based at Mount Pleasant, ever gets off the ground I will certainly pay a visit. Jamie Count me in as I would like to seen it working Terry Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG John Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I was on a Bracknell Railway Society visit many years ago. I found the photos recently, but haven't scanned them yet. If someone revives this topic in a few months/years after I get round to them, I may be able to post some!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I saw it on an MRC visit one evening fairly soon after I came to London so probably about 1975-77. We visited Dollis Hill and the visit was just to the railway though I think we walked past the main sorting office. It was absolutely fascinating almost like a giant model railway. It had a simple but effective speed control system based on the supply voltage, full volts main line running, half volts station speeds and no volts applied the brakes. We saw trains running in and out of the station and mail containers being dispatched and received to the sorting office above and also visited the workshops where we saw the line's passenger train used for VIP visits that did require a driver- driverless trains like the DLR were well in the future then. The tunnels were I think standard tube size but with two two foot gauge lines so just one running tunnel. One thing that did strike me were the large mercury arc rectifiers in the station tunnels below the platforms- straight out of the movie SFX department and rather eerie. According to Wikipaedia the Post Office Railway ine was inspired by the Chicago Tunnel Company's railway, a complex sixty mile system that carried freight under most of downtown Chicago until abandonment in 1959. One of the TV channels recently showed Union Station a 1950 movie centred on Chicago's main station but in which "Chicago plays itself" as one review put it. The final denoument of the movie involving the rescue of a kidnapped blind heiress is set in the tunnel railway which was at that time still open though mainly just hauling ash from building central heating plants so must have been a fairly filthy filming location. The movie also offers some interesting insights into the operation of the Chicago El as well as good shots of Union Station itself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
number6 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 The British Postal Museum and Archive deserve all the help and praise it can get in its aim to reopen Mount Pleasant depot and run a service around and back through the station. I was mildly obsessed with the Post Office Railway and hunted down everything I could find - one of the best was this document from 1928 - which I scanned and is now on Flickr for all to enjoy. Well worth a read. http://flic.kr/s/aHsjyoSkdE There is also a nice route map in the Flickr set. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 A very interesting site about the line here, if not rather dodgy in its provenance... http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792 Thanks for that link. Just sat enthralled for 15 minutes or so... Super stuff, even though in the current security/terrorist times we live in, somewhat concerning to read how relatively easy it was to get into the system and wander round with all the lights on without being noticed.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PGC Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Super stuff, even though in the current security/terrorist times we live in, somewhat concerning to read how relatively easy it was to get into the system and wander round with all the lights on without being noticed.... When I worked for Royal Mail, I had to have Military level Security clearance to get in to MailRail, and even then I was checked every time I went in, even though the operators knew who I was. It wasn't possible or easy to just walk in then, although I don't know how tight security would have been when these films were made. The line will certainly be part of the Post Office museum when it opens, currently planned, I believe, for 2014. The reason the line closed was that the Postal hubs it served were closed. If anyone had ever been to Paddington or Whitechapel Offices (places I knew well), you would understand why the facilities were moved to the new premises. Regrettably they couldn't extend MailRail, so it was closed down. When the Pricess Royal Distribution Centre at Neasden was being planned, the extension of MailRail was looked at with a view to using the train to move the post. It was reckoned the time saved and the enviormental savings would have been enormous, but the logisitics of building the line were far too costly so the plan was knocked on the head. Shame! PGC Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oldlugger Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Many thanks for all the fascinating replies! Is the entire system still intact (track and tunnels)? If Mount Pleasant is the only part of the railway to be reopened, what will happen to all the other tunnels and track? Will they be filled in and track lifted? What a shame if this happens. Another question; how did you access the system from ground level? Are there any photos of the entrances? Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
number6 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 I believe it is still intact and since it was still operational when Crossrail was being designed it weaves through the new tunnels. See this map of Moorgate and Liverpool Street. The Post Office Railway is light brown and threads right through the middle of the new green Crossrail work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jamie92208 Posted March 1, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2013 Many thanks for all the fascinating replies! Is the entire system still intact (track and tunnels)? If Mount Pleasant is the only part of the railway to be reopened, what will happen to all the other tunnels and track? Will they be filled in and track lifted? What a shame if this happens. Another question; how did you access the system from ground level? Are there any photos of the entrances? Simon From memory, which may well be faulty, the only access to the sirface was from Mount Pleasant but there were temporary access points during construction. There was of course pedestrian and mail bag access at all the stations. The bags came down spiral shutes and there was some kind of lift to get the loaded ones up. Jamie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PhilJ W Posted March 1, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 1, 2013 IIRC Some of the tunnels were earmarked for possible use as part of Crossrail, either for access/services or enlarged as part of Crossrail itself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 A very interesting site about the line here, if not rather dodgy in its provenance... http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792 Brilliant - I shouldn't condon such acts of trespass and B&E but I applaud these guys - giving us a fabulous insight into something mysterious and then leaving without the need to smash or damage anything - just satisfied with uncovering a hidden world.............I feel the need to re-watch "Edge of Darkness" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Earlswood Nob Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 G'day all They used to run tours around King Edward Building (near The Old Bailey) and one got taken down steps from a spot in the yard to a section of the old Roman London Wall with Saxon additions, and then down a lift to the platform to see the railway. This was in the 80's, it was very interesting. The lease on the building ran out and the station was closed. Earlswood Nob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Ron Ron Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 We covered this subject back in 2011 (...and at least once before that IIRC).. I haven't checked it all, but there are some bits and pieces of interest in that previous thread and a couple of useful links to other sites worth looking at. Link here..... http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/35788-post-office-railway/ . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted March 6, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 6, 2013 G'day all They used to run tours around King Edward Building (near The Old Bailey) and one got taken down steps from a spot in the yard to a section of the old Roman London Wall with Saxon additions, and then down a lift to the platform to see the railway. This was in the 80's, it was very interesting. The lease on the building ran out and the station was closed. Earlswood Nob Hi Earlswood When I worked for the National Blood Service we used to do a blood donor session at the King Edward Building. On one occasion one of my colleagues was chatting to one of the railwaymen as he lay there giving his blood and she mentioned I was interested in trains. That lunch time he arranged for me to visit the railway. I feel very lucky I was able to do so. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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