Mail Rail - The Post Office Underground Railway

[allticketspls]

Hi guys

Not sure if this is the correct place to post this but thought it might be of interest. I found a posting on a site that shows all of the stations on Mail Rail in their current condition.

http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792

I remember visiting Mail Rail when I was a kid as they held an open day at King Edward Station. Shame it's no longer used.

Regards

Les

 

[WestCoast]

An extremely interesting piece on this seemingly 'secret' railway - although of course it is well known.

I find it amazing how these "explorers" managed to go unnoticed, plus I wonder what the Royal Mail would think if they read the site? Although I'm presuming they know about the security breach hock:

 

[Sun Chariot]

It was something I wanted to visit but never quite got around to until it was too late.

Whilst I won't condone the trespass element of the 'explorers' on Silent UK, I salute their ingenuity, tenacity, stamina and their fantastic photos and riveting text. Nice work!

 

[sprinterguy]

A friend of mine has been shown around the Mount Pleasant Mail Rail station, as he works for Royal Mail. There’s apparently quite a maze of corridors to traverse to get down to platform level! One of the privileged few to have seen it in recent years!

It’s so strange that all the trains and infrastructure have been left in place exactly as they were when the system was shut down, and all underneath central London; I’ve been intrigued by Mail Rail for years, and it’s fascinating to see so many detailed photos of the whole line. I wonder what the future holds for Mail Rail? I imagine that the trains and track will have to be sold off for scrap eventually if they remain out of use.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Just read the blog myself - quite a trip those guys made, especially as they started at the far western end of the system and explored eastwards. It sounded as though they got to the end with no choice but to trek all seven miles back to where they started

 

[ainsworth74]

Had a poke around their site and these guys get around, they've even scaled the Forth Bridge (see here).

 

[142094]

A friend of mine has been shown around the Mount Pleasant Mail Rail station, as he works for Royal Mail. There’s apparently quite a maze of corridors to traverse to get down to platform level! One of the privileged few to have seen it in recent years!

It’s so strange that all the trains and infrastructure have been left in place exactly as they were when the system was shut down, and all underneath central London; I’ve been intrigued by Mail Rail for years, and it’s fascinating to see so many detailed photos of the whole line. I wonder what the future holds for Mail Rail? I imagine that the trains and track will have to be sold off for scrap eventually if they remain out of use.

I expect it might be similar to the lines that ran in deep shaft pits up here, a lot of the stuff was just abandonded and left to the sea. I remember reading one miner had said it would be funny to find in eventually somewhere in the North Sea, a complete underground pit train.

 

[sprinterguy]

I expect it might be similar to the lines that ran in deep shaft pits up here, a lot of the stuff was just abandonded and left to the sea. I remember reading one miner had said it would be funny to find in eventually somewhere in the North Sea, a complete underground pit train.

I'd never thought about the underground pit railways around my native north east. I suppose it was easier just to leave them down there when the pits closed rather than go to the effort of hauling the narrow gauge locos and pit tubs back to the surface. As you say, a lot of those tunnels are surely full of sea water by now, and the little trains rusting away underwater. How peculiar. I reckon those tunnels would be unattainable even for the members of silentuk!

 

[142094]

Unless they had a pneumatic drill and a lot of time! Failing that a set of diving gear might be useful in the future.

Often along the coast you get sea coal - people used to bag it up and sell it to ICI from some of the beaches at Hartlepool. Wonder if we'll see some pit artefacts washed up as well in the future.

 

[starrymarkb]

It's doing the rounds on FB/Twitter at the moment - Neil Gailman has just linked it as it was a film location for Neverwhere

 

[OMGitsDAVE]

Unless they had a pneumatic drill and a lot of time! Failing that a set of diving gear might be useful in the future.

Often along the coast you get sea coal - people used to bag it up and sell it to ICI from some of the beaches at Hartlepool. Wonder if we'll see some pit artefacts washed up as well in the future.

They still bag it up, around 5 Land Rover's take to the sands a few times a day, here in Seaton Carew.

 

[142094]

They still bag it up, around 5 Land Rover's take to the sands a few times a day, here in Seaton Carew.

Haven't been down to Hartlepool in a while but can't image in them stopping, especially since it is basically free. I say basically, as I was told they had to have a licence to do so but not sure if anyone actually cares.

 

[MCR247]

Links don't work for me :?

 

[90019]

Links don't work for me :?

The site appears to be down just now.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

An extremely interesting piece on this seemingly 'secret' railway - although of course it is well known.

I find it amazing how these "explorers" managed to go unnoticed, plus I wonder what the Royal Mail would think if they read the site? Although I'm presuming they know about the security breach hock:

I was at the NRM in York on Monday and there was an exhibit of the Royal Mail underground mail train that was being watched by a party of children who were being given an informal, but extremely interesting, resume of how that operation worked. They were all engrossed!!

 

[westcoaster]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...ube-station-blamed-on-four-urban-explorers.do , some urban explorers got nabbed.

 

[umontu]

At first CCTV operators thought they were wearing balaclavas and police moved in amid fears the group could have been plotting an attack in the run-up to the royal wedding.

What a stupid time to try something like that.

I've never done something as extreme as this but seriously the fact it's near a huge event in that town would be the first warning sign!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

What a stupid time to try something like that.

I've never done something as extreme as this but seriously the fact it's near a huge event in that town would be the first warning sign!

The demise of Osama bin Laden will make security even more stringent. These people regard their particular brand of enjoyment as being totally disconnected from the realities of life as we now find it. The London Olympic Games will require the strictest of security measures being employed...remember what happened at the Munich Olympic Games for insufficiant measures being in place.

Stories of certain London based people of Asian sub-continent origin finding themselves having Sat-Nav problems near to Sellafield within days of his demise is stretching incredulity to the limits of belief.

I stand to be corrected on this thread if my views are wrong.