London's Post Office Railway Mail Rail June 1996

[@computertastic]

Very cool transport system Never knew mail was transported underground

[@no-damn-alias]

the last day must have been very strange, the last person, locking the door and knowing, that this is it

[@brocklanders6172]

Only you Brits would come up with something so amazing.

[@Scott757300]

Excellent video, I was only 7 days old when it was recorded! Shame it has been abandoned as the system is brilliant. Apparently it opens with the museum this year, can't wait to go down and see the tunnels.

[@tardismole]

A misstake to have closed this, in my oppinion. We didn't need more vehicles on the roads. Glad that they've opened it as a museum, though. At least this amazing place and all its history has been preserved.

[@ArtStoneUS]

Email does not require either

[@tardismole]

@@TreeMovies Totally agree.

[@tardismole]

@neUS You still need solid documents, and most official ones cannot be sent by enail due to security risks. Especially if they require headered paper, such as from the Crown or the government.

[@thegroupofreptiles6823]

Or, you know, physical parcels... Imagine if Amazon got hold of something like this?

[@tardismole]

@@thegroupofreptiles6823 That would be awesome.

[@Bigthingcoming]

Fascinating video, top job love it.

[@Bobs2cents]

This video is fantastic!! This was so interesting to see. Oh, how I would have loved to work down there. Dream job. Sad to see mail not as popular as days gone by. Glad at least there is a museum for MailRail!!

[@brakesdem6131]

I came to the one in paddington when i was a small boy in the 90's for a school trip. Brings back memories, shame really.

[@2SENNE]

Wow, this actually was a good idea. Sadly it closed in 2003, now its a museum

[@cavendish009]

Does it go through Shepherds Bush Central line ?? If you stand on the platform for Bond Street there are peep holes through to what looks like a small train platform !!

[@BNforever2009]

wow!! This is new to me. USA should have something like this in NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, and Pittsburgh.

[@david-othen]

BNforever2009 Surprisingly it was closed in 2003 but is scheduled to open as a tourist attraction in 2020.

[@BPJJohn]

there is some similar in U.S.A. The Chicago Tunnel Company, apparently it inspired Royal Mail into making something similar en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Post_Office_Railway.

[@robertcasey9550]

It sounds like the Londoners based the POR on an underground freight rail system in Chicago in the early 1900's, so the U.S. did have something like this.

[@skiesofireland3429]

Seems mail rail has opened for public use 3 years early!

[@ChangesOneTim]

Amazing video, historic, very informative. I've only just discovered that one exists of the London POR that isn't part of a documentary or publicity thing.

[@2H80vids]

Fascinating wee video. I hope I get the chance to try out the "tourist train" version but I would have *loved* to see this system in it's heyday.

[@5mnz7fg]

I really wonder why it was closed. The System appears to be very useful.

[@david-othen]

+5mnz7fg I am not sure. London traffic certainly is still a problem

[@ZwiebackDK]

+5mnz7fg It was very useful back in the days, but now it is much cheaper just to use overground mail vans.

[@david-othen]

I agree but it probably was in need of a major investment.

[@StewFairweather]

+5mnz7fg I read in a news article today that the main sorting offices the Rail Mail served were sol off in the 90's/00's. Thus by 2003 the service became irrelevant/uneconomical. The news article was publicising that parts of Rail Mail are to become part of the Royal Mail museum and visitors will be able to ride a 1km part of the track as well as visit the old maintenance depot.

[@david-othen]

StewFairweather Yes I believe that a museum is planned

[@chris-io1ki]

Great video. Would have loved to had seen an express flying past on the outside lines.

[@thatoneyellowguy8470]

I’m watching this 5 years after

[@Mr_Spliffy]

Very cool upload

[@Petermax99]

Very enjoyable good job on the video

[@FM60260]

So these are controlled by turning on/off the power supply and varying the voltage to control the speed, this was practically just a rather large DC model railway layout. There was a model railway brand that produced centre 3rd rail pickup just like this, I can't remember who it was though.

[@RC-fw6ws]

Every driverless passenger rail system works the same

[@FM60260]

@@RC-fw6ws How is that possible when some operate multiple trains electronically and some control by isolating the line power supply.

[@arianaashworth3091]

@@RC-fw6ws That is rubbish! All equipment manufacturers build things their own way so they all end up turning out different, some might be similar but they are not all the same. Generalising driverless railways as working the same would be like assuming a class 66 and class 37 would pair in multiple because they both have multiple working sockets.

[@Michaelbos]

Governments like England, the U.S. Etc, always seem to want to fix what is not broken.

[@mikepopstar]

Pretty cool!

[@jiloliu8714]

0:51 It’s not a problem, it’s a ME problem!

[@leifliltorp1566]

Big mistake to close this!!!!!

[@orgami100]

Which one is Thomas the tank engine 🚂

[@buggs9950]

The blue one.

[@jimpikoulis6726]

Casino Royale Mail