U.K. and Ireland - Underground Nerdery: The Mail Train, London's "Other" Tube Line

Those with a fascination for hidden parts of London may enjoy spending Saturday morning learning about the Mail Train, the "other" London Underground network, which was decommissioned in 2010, but which still exists under London:

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

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ce/London_Post_Office_Railway.jpg/275px-London_Post_Office_Railway.jpg

the British Postal Museum and Archive recently recovered some of the rolling stock from the system, and you can visit it at their store in Debden, where they also keep lots of other big red things:

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6035/5911913945_4bb75ac7ab_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/teflon/5911913945/)

They've got lots of information on the system here: http://postalheritage.org.uk/page/mailrail

and you can book on to one of the free tours of the store (or their archive at Mount Pleasant) at: http://postalheritage.org.uk/page/museum-tours

Not a train but definitely tunnel nerdery.

If you go to the Salmon and Ball pub at the junction of Bethnal Green Road and Cambridge Heath Road. There is a another tunnel accessible through a wrought iron gate at the back of the cellar which run west via Oxford Street and East to no idea where.

Don't have a clue what the tunnel is for

In Bloomsbury, all of University College London's buildings are connected by underground tunnels. You can go all the way from the School of Tropical Medecine via the main building and on to the Geography department without seeing daylight.

If you go to the Salmon and Ball pub at the junction of Bethnal Green Road and Cambridge Heath Road. There is a another tunnel accessible through a wrought iron gate at the back of the cellar which run west via Oxford Street and East to no idea where.

Don't have a clue what the tunnel is for


Interesting. I would guess this was part of the WW2 air raid shelter, leading to Bethnal Green tube station? Sadly, where many people were killed in 1943.

Interesting. I would guess this was part of the WW2 air raid shelter, leading to Bethnal Green tube station? Sadly, where many people were killed in 1943.

I always thought that the WW2 Air Raid shelter was in fact part of the uncompleted Central Line itself, or was there a separate shelter?

BTW there is a plan for a memorial to the 1943 disaster

http://www.stairwaytoheavenmemorial.org/index.html