RD16154. Mail Rail Museum, London. - a photo on Flickriver

RD16152. London's newest railway attraction is 'Rail Mail', a short section of the now closed and unused 2ft gauge Post Office Railway which runs from Paddington Station in the west to beyond Liverpool Street Station in the east.

Opened in 1927 and in deep level tunnels for its whole length, it is completely unknown to the majority of the population and is often referred to as London's secret railway. I visited it once many years ago on an organised party, but normally members of the public never got to see it even if they knew about its existence. The trains did not carry passengers, only sacks of mail; it was electrically operated from control panels so the trains did not need drivers.

It was built so that London's mail could be transferred between some of the major railway stations and sorting offices without being delayed in traffic jams on London's increasingly congested roads. This was in an age well before the internet and e-mails, and when only a relatively few people had telephones. So the main means of communication was writing a letter.

By 2003 this had changed so much that the railway was no longer needed as the volume of mail had decreased and overnight mail trains no longer arrived and departed from the London terminal railway stations. The railway was closed, but remained in situ, abandoned and forgotten - but not by everyone.

In 2017, a short section around the Mount Pleasant Sorting Office was re-opened as a passenger carrying tourist railway and I can highly recommend taking a trip on it. If someone had said to me when I visited it all those years ago that, one day in the future I'd visit it again and actually ride on it, my reply would have involved flying pigs!

As well as the ride in the tunnels, there is also a museum displaying some of the old vehicles that were used to carry the mails.

The details of it are here: www.postalmuseum.org/discover/attractions/mail-rail-ride/#

Tuesday, 10th October, 2017. Copyright © Ron Fisher.

Taken in: United Kingdom / England / London / Holborn (show map)

Taken on: October 10, 2017

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Post Office Railway

Mail Rail

Narrow Gauge Railway

Schmalspurbahn

Chemin de Fer

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2' Gauge

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Rail

Railway

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Transport

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London

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Great Britain

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Sony RX100 III

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Sets appears in: • Mail Rail - the Post Office Railway

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Camera: Sony DSC-RX100M3, f/2.5, 1/30 sec, 10.9mm, ISO 250 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Sony DSC-RX100M3
Aperture:	f/2.5
Exposure Time:	0.033 sec (1/30)
Focal Length:	10.9mm
ISO:	250
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Unknown (-1)
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0
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