Exploring London's Abandoned Underground Railway | Mail Rail Tunnels

Join author and London tour guide Katie Wignall as she explores a huge network of abandoned underground tunnels beneath central London. Preserved by The Postal Museum, this historic subterranean railway carried letters across the capital from 1927 until its controversial closure in 2003.
You can follow Katie's work at: lookup.london/
At the turn of the 20th century, the streets of Victorian London were congested, polluted and dangerous. This was a problem for the Royal Mail, which was relied on to deliver the capital’s letters and packages on time. Their solution was to transport it underground.
Construction began on a six mile network of underground railway tunnels in 1915, stretching from east to west, connecting Paddington to Whitechapel. It would become the world’s first fully automated driverless railway, and at its peak, would carry 4 million letters around London every day.
In the first episode of History Hit's 'Hidden London' series, author and London tour guide Katie Wignall heads 21 metres underground to explore these spooky tunnels, which were abandoned two decades ago.
Later in the episode, Katie speaks to Chris Taft, Head of Collections at the Postal Museum, to find out why the Royal Mail's underground network was shut down.
You can follow The Postal Museum at the links below:
Twitter - @thepostalmuseum
Instagram - @thepostalmuseum
Tik Tok - @thepostalmuseum
Facebook - The Postal Museum
KZbin - @thepostalmuseum
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#historyhit #londonhistory #abandonedplaces

[@HistoryHit]

Hope you enjoyed the episode guys! 🚇Do let us know if there are any hidden London gems you think we should be featuring in the series! 🤔

[@DMlonghurst]

If you would like to do a follow up on this vid with some questions and stories from staff I’m sure we could sort that out 😉🫡

[@EuroWarsOrg]

Hey History Hit, you sure it wasn't those black people form Africa who built it eh?

[@adventureswithbrad431]

​@Lord_H 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅55😅5😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@adventureswithbrad431]

​@Lord_H 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@adventureswithbrad431]

​@@EuroWarsOrg 😅😅😅5😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😊😅😅😅😅😅5😅😅😅😅😅😅5😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅5😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😊😅😅😅😅6😅😅😅5😅😅😅😅😅😅😅⁵😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@paulpm57]

In 1987 I was the PM for a company called Hop Studios who designed and managed the installation of the new streamline bodies for the Greenbat train motor units for the Mail Rail launch. We spent over a month in the maintenance workshop under the Mount Pleasant sorting office fixing the new external shells to the original running chassis. We also had to hitch a passenger car and the new train body mock-up to a battery car to through every tunnel in the system to make sure it didn't hit anything. I spent a weekend in the tunnels sitting in front of the mock-up when the system was shut down. It was like having my own giant train set to play with! Given the new restrictions coming in that are limiting movement with petrol vehicles in London - it seems the track and tunnels could be re-purposed to provide clean/green goods transport!

[@harryjohnson9215]

I can Imagine it being brought back to help with transport

[@YeOldeGeezer]

I highly doubt it would happen

[@anlemeinthegame1637]

Katie is a wonderful presenter. I hope to see her in more videos.

[@LookUpLondon]

Thank you! We're hard at work with more fun hidden history :)

[@matthewcullen1298]

Yes I find her voice very soothing 😊 greetings from Australia 😊

[@Snacks8536]

Katie can handle a lot of huge loads 😏

[@Cameron-ls3qt]

She's just given a script to read.. she has no special Intel.

[@another3997]

​@@Cameron-ls3qt You can say the same about newsreaders and actors. They "just" read scripts. Does that make them any less intelligent or ignorant of what they talk about? At the start, it says that Katie is both a tour guide and an author, so I daresay she has a genuine interest and knowledge about various historical topics.

[@PixPete]

What a shame. We live in an age where more small packets and mail is sent than ever, thanks to online ordering, but ever since the 90's Royal Mail has been in continuous decline due to bad management. The service is so abysmal these days most people simply don't want to use it at all, even just going to the Post Office is a nightmare experience - that is if you can even find one locally.

[@monkeytennis8861]

The world has moved on, luddite

[@robertthomas1717]

Used to scare me when working in the Underground at night. The power is off you're walking down the tunnel and hear a train running, thankfully a postie train 😮

[@GarrettDanger_]

Would be super cool if they made this into a landmark and you could take a ride on a converted mail train and go thru all the stops while learning about the history. Would also help to keep the areas maintained and available to the public because it really is something that is incredible cool

[@cathafloat1519]

You can….you can visit the Postal Museum and travel on a little mail train through the tunnel loop that was used to turn the trains round. Definitely worth a visit and the stamp/postal exhibition is really interesting too.

[@johnalexander995]

I remember going as a teenager to see it in the early 70s (I would guess). Our Scout Leader organised a trip for us all. It was fascinating at the time to watch the bags come down the helical slides, be loaded into the tubs and onto the trains. Now we plan to go to the museum tomorrow - can't wait!

[@NickonStark]

I’m subscribed to Katie’s channel!! She’s such a knowledgeable guide and professional, as well; certified and verified as she is! Proud to see her here at history hit.

[@jimbo1847]

This railway was originally built to overcome congestion on the streets of London. Surely, now that the streets are even MORE congested, and despite the fact that the route does not connect with ALL the places it originally once did, SOMETHING could be transported quickly and greenly through the tunnels.

[@pacificelectric1955]

Greetings from France! Back in the late 1980s, I happened to pass by Mount Pleasant sorting office and there was some kind of "open doors day" there, with a visit of the premises including the underground mail rail station which at the time was fully operational and I just loved it. Too bad it has been abandoned as nowadays the mail is transported by trucks and it certainly adds to the congestion! Very interesting and surprising video indeed.

[@Keithjsullivan]

I had the 'luxury' of visiting when the railway was still in operation; they used to allow work visits for interested groups and I joined one such group. Well done Katie, as always, for an informative well presented video.

[@Nick-13]

Fascinating, and good to see more than on the public Mail Rail walk. Also, a clear and logical reason for the demise of the functioning railway - I always wondered why it closed when the roads of London are so busy !

[@RobinHullBuilds]

In a previous life, as a Corporate Relations/Public Affairs Manager for The Post Office Corporation, as it was then, I used to take opinion formers on special trains through the tunnels. We’d also show them our operation at “The Mount”. There was some talk about opening up the service to the bigger retailers on Oxford Street, thus taking lorries off the already crowded streets. Obviously, it never happened! Fun video. Top notch!

[@jetsons101]

I have seen vids on this rail before, but this video filled in gaps that were missed in other vids. Thanks to Katie and her team for there time and hard work.....

[@anthonystevens8683]

A really well produced and informative video Katie. All these things going on under our feet decades ago that many didn't know existed. I think it's good that the railway still exists and that there are chances for people to experience how things were over the years gone by. Too much heritage has gone and only if we're lucky some photographs exist. Many thanks for sharing.

[@chezmckinney9162]

Absolutely fascinating episode, thanks Katie 😃 makes me miss London even more 🥲

[@jenniferlevine5406]

Fascinating! Thanks so much for telling this history, I really enjoyed it.

[@vaazig]

These series are so well made. Enjoying them thoroughly.

[@neilfurby555]

Beautifully presented both words and pictures. Katie has a lovely voice and paces her commentary so well.

[@howcotube]

Was so good to see as I had been there in December 2022 and got to ride in front of the train- so interesting to see and also the Postal museum is across the street. Surprised you did not touch upon how people can go and ride the tunnels and the museum. Katie you did a fantastic job and loved how you were able to walk the tunnels !

[@StephanieElizabethMann]

I really enjoyed seeing a whole side of London and the way mail went on its way across the city. Thank you for a very interesting and informative video.

[@davidcreager1945]

Pretty cool ! Love these tours of the hidden gems that every city had but people rarely get to see ! Thank you History Hit !, For this tour !

[@hugelavalava]

Looking forward to the rest of the series, great presenter as well 👍

[@timothywebb5100]

Once again absolutely brilliant 👍

[@danpoole4915]

As a Chicago resident, this film immediately connected me with the underground service tunnel flood of 1992. As a rail fan, I love the story. This piece convinced me to subscribe to History Hit. Thanks.

[@soldier-Dave]

Katie….brilliantly presented! Thank you!

[@emwarner6650]

Brilliant, thoroughly enjoy all your films x

[@MrPete1x]

Excellent, thank you for showing this

[@williamrobinson7435]

Fascinating and v well presented. Nice one Katie! 🌟👍

[@lavendercat408]

Well done, Katie. Great information and so interesting.

[@robertharvey4246]

Another great informative presentation from Katie

[@janetbowersox83]

Very interesting! Thanks for the info and tour of the mail tunnel.

[@denisecaringer4726]

Loved this. Very interesting and well done. Thank you.

[@huibertlandzaat1889]

You made a very interesting video. Thank you for uploading.

[@FaceInTheCrowd]

Sterling presentation by Katie! I clicked on this video out of idle curiosity but found myself watching the whole video. It's informative and well put together. Nice work. Thanks for posting.

[@HistoryHit]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@karenmonroy8370]

I Love Katie! Congratulations 🎉 as always fabulous material!

[@DAveShillito]

I was taken by my Dad to an open-day of the line sometime in the 80's. This included a journey along the line and back, although I remember the tunnels being much smaller.

[@andrewmarch7891]

Thank you; fascinating!

[@berndeckenfels]

Thank you for giving me an idea for a travel destination

[@donaldfedosiuk1638]

Wonderful vid! Looking forward to more.

[@gumpy4960]

Good to see Katie on history hit, I enjoy her own channel too

[@ThePostalMuseum]

Thanks so much for coming!

[@HistoryHit]

Thanks for having us!

[@SaturnCanuck]

That was amazing. And funny I just saw Hudson Hawk and had no idea. I can't wait to see what you are going to show next.

[@thetallguy182]

Really interesting film; I've visited the Postal Museum a couple of times but plenty in here I hadn't understood before - thank you!

[@stefanleonardo9734]

A beautiful video. Rare but intreaguing.

[@54mgtf22]

Love your work 👍

[@thesteelrodent1796]

the one thing I still wonder about the mail rail is that with the incredible amount of parcels that are shipped nowadays, it should be worthwhile to build new lines to allow these trains to go where they need to go, and then rent capacity out to all the private operators Royal Mail fail to compete with to help pay for it. It'd save a huge amount of emissions and clear up a bit of the traffic in London's streets. Sure it won't be cheap to dig new tunnels, lay more track, and update the system, but since it won't be carrying passengers there's a long list of things you don't need to worry about to the same degree as the tunnels for the passenger trains, so it's much cheaper to extend the mail rail than doing anything on the underground.

[@RobinHullBuilds]

When I was with The Post Office Corporation we explored opening up the service to retailers on Oxford Street and extending Mail Rail further west with new stations. For many reasons, it never got further than just talking about it!

[@russcattell955i]

Nah ! They'd rather have more trucks & vans on the streets.

[@deanmc178]

fantastic history ,,thankyou kate x

Thank you so much for this fascinating presentation dear Katie,hidden underground tunnels of london that is perfectly in accordance with the British underground Rock 'N' roll genre music, much love, with my best (St. Alien).

[@taxiuniversum]

Very interesting! Thank you.

[@stanrix]

How fascinating! I’ve never heard of such a thing.

[@eggballo4490]

We need to be moving more goods by rail. Do you have any idea how many ebay and Amazon packages we could be moving if this system was restored and even expanded?

[@unfound23]

Exactly what I was thinking, it baffles me that there’s a war on motorists going on while infrastructure, useful infrastructure like this is left unused. There’s so much potential here if one would expand the network to critical logistic points like Heathrow airport. Sad times we live in, one day we will wake up with trucks and vans blocking our cities streets. But at least private traffic was outlawed. A shame

[@onlyme219]

That was fascinating, more please :)

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

I always been a sad person when it comes to abandoned things especially house stores and especially churches it's has always made me sad, especially when I learned about the abandoned tunnels two years ago, so much could be revamped and put to good use.

[@anotherrandom219]

Especially

[@Ant86744]

I am surprised Amazon or other goods that deliver have not snapped it up.. seems a perfect way to transport light goods around

[@christycullen2355]

This was fascinating, I'm glad it popped up on my feed. The presenter was great as well. I hope there's more of these

[@HistoryHit]

More to come!

[@christycullen2355]

@@HistoryHit Happy to hear it

[@jimmeltonbradley1497]

Looking forward to the next episode.

[@rerun3283]

Amazing!

[@HelenSmith-we3lf]

Fanc you for showing us this

[@JJLewin1]

Most in-depth story I have ever seen on the mail rail. Incredible history. Sadly Royal Mail has changed so much, there is more to see dissapear!

[@suecj8770]

Brilliant episode

[@johncarden1112]

My Dad was a senior engineer for the Post Office in the 1960's. He took me to see this in action. He also took me to the Post Office (now BT) Tower when it was being built; we went up in a hoist. There was to be a revolving restaurant on top, this bit was still to be dropped in. He also took me to the Houses of Parliament chamber and up Big Ben. Also he took me to the "Hot Line" emergency Soviet Union / London ,/ Washington telephone to prevent mistaken use of nuclear weapons. I also was taken to a disaster info line after the sinking of a liner with the loss of hundreds of lives. Volunteer operators were fielding the calls. This would not be possible now, I was privileged really. Thanks Dad!

[@andrijbebko8435]

It's well worth doing one of the Mail Rail walking tours.

[@paulw4259]

Thank you.

[@joshlesure3196]

Another amazingly presented and very informative video! Katie does such a brilliant job!

[@alanbudgen2672]

I loved your lockdown videos Katie. I was wondering whether you had moved on. Very professional, excellent video. Looking forward to more to come.

[@LookUpLondon]

Thanks Alan, I'm still working as a full time London guide and haven't been able to regularly put out my own KZbin videos in the past year so this was a great opportunity to work with the fab team at History Hit :)

[@allisonjames2923]

Crazy that such a large structure in a high density space like London hasn’t been repurposed. Personally I think it would be a great cycle tunnel, but no doubt there are issues with height & width of the tunnels that prevent that. At least it’s getting visited by people as a museum & hasn’t been forgotten completely.

[@harrypenn611]

I went on the tour recently it's was brilliant

[@michellebell5092]

Fascinating. I’d heard of the mail rail but had never really seen pictures of it. Of course St Paul’s was originally called Post Office.

[@clackmannan]

Visited the Postal Museum just last (March '23) month and rode the mail rail cars, it's a great experience.

[@willwhite1575]

I've been on the tour but it would be great if it could extend to Paddington and Whitechapel. Surely there's more that could be done generally with this network especially as it runs so close to major shopping centres and main line stations.

[@mikeyfrederick1232]

This is like the 4th video i have watched on this channel today lol...really great content...

[@HistoryHit]

Welcome aboard!

[@blackIce504]

that was so sad, What a great solution to mail, imagine Amazon or Ebay using such a system.

[@markm1630]

Excellent and very interesting

[@stephencausebrook6833]

Great content

[@melanienicholson2834]

Very informative

[@derektierney1314]

They should open them back up for bringing in goods to the shops 👍

[@robertgolding5398]

Really interesting. My father working on it during the war. Dog know the details but i remember him mentioning mount pleasant when I was Young.

[@shaunwest3612]

Amazing 👌

[@DMlonghurst]

My dad has so many great stories from working here

[@ELMS]

More Katie, please.

[@rodeastell3615]

Excellent.

[@MarijaEnchantix]

You can go to the Royal Mail museum! Drive on the train and everything, it's really cool.

[@Aindriuh]

Katie is so tiny. Bless her.

[@richardvoogd705]

I recall reading of this railway many years ago, either the late 1960s or early 1970s. Interesting to see what's left of it.

[@MrGigi-dz9cv]

Really nice. As a foreigner, i get to see places, i never will have a chance, in the real life.

[@Will-cu9sp]

Hats off to the presenter!

[@ianhandforth5672]

im jeolous you can go where we carnt,, great presented

[@katherinecollins4685]

Very interesting

[@josephpadula2283]

Chicago had a separate cargo underground cargo system that went to many of the major buildings basements. After it was abandoned a piledriver working in the river pierced into the tunnel and Flooded the entire system And the basements of the buildings!

[@tescofood]

There's even food, news papers from the late 80's underneath some stations in the engineers rooms. Quite a capsule

[@shahjhanhaider26]

It's informative. to know abandoned underground railway, how it would have worked when it was built in former days?

[@sethjm]

Visiting London in September - just booked tickets to see this 😀

[@ThePostalMuseum]

Can't wait to see you ☺

[@dougknight1720]

Love it. Can the public access the Tunnels at any time?

[@rickdagrexican7351]

If you ever come to the state go to Chicago and check out the underground tunnels. I've heard stories about them but, I don't know what's going on with them now

[@jmanj3917]

11:30 I'm not being mean or anything like that, but: This shot made me chuckle as I looked at the height differences between the two people on camera, and remembered the seemingly concerned tone of voice used while you were donning your helmet earlier... 🤔...👍...🤣

[@iainamurray]

Given the congestion on London's roads, they should definitely be reopening it!

[@fernandlehners7787]

Are there any videos about the other stations? You only see one station and the depot on any videos about the Mail Rail .

[@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606]

They should run an exhibition train with one of the manned locomotives and a set of retrofitted mail cars that have seats installed and do a guided tour through the tunnels, where I live in West Virginia they have exhibition coal mines that run shuttle cars with passengers with a guide its really fun and it would be a cool idea for this

[@justgoofingoff]

Why don't we have guides like this in the USA. Id love to take a tour with Katie or Alice

[@garethmorrell264]

Everyone should take one of Katie's tours - all it will cost you is the airfare to London plus £10 or so ;) She does have a lot of content available on the web, though.

[@cleverusername9369]

We do have guides like this! I've Ben on historical tours in Boston, Wilmington NC, Philadelphia, etc, there are plenty of places with knowledgeable, enthusiastic historical guides just as wonderful as Katie and Alice, who are admittedly delightful. Check out The History Underground, the presenter JD is a history teacher and travels around the world teaching about historical sites mostly related to US history, really fantastic stuff.

[@FrankFurther]

Because the US has no interesting history, my local pub is far older than the US

[@initialb123]

@@FrankFurther Oh but they do have a lot of history spanning back many tens of years, they just don't like to talk about or acknowledge most it is all.