THE POST OFFICE RAILWAY (MAIL RAIL)
The post office railway, aka Mail Rail, is a 2ft narrow gauge underground railway system in London built by the royal mail. It's purpose was to be a quick and efficient way to transport mail between sorting offices around london. Due to its decline and ever expanding upkeep the railway was shut down in 2003 and left abandoned. The whole systems stretches a length of 10.5km beneath the streets of London's city centre.
Access to mail rail has been few and far between. Only the most dedicated explorers seemed to haved gained access (Admittedly I did not find it) I first visited back in 2015 but there was a bit of controversy over who got told / who wasn't told. It all basically ended in everyone bickering and arguing. Not wanting to fall out over the whole situation even though I knew that mail rail was open I ended up spending the night running around inside a stadium and playing on some gas holders. In the end we decided to pop down to the access point to see how the other lads got on. By this point it was 5am and it was time to be leaving. I had a quick jaunt in, fired off a couple of snaps and that was all. As with most access points into mail rail it's longevity was short. The next day the access was sealed up, patched and no longer doable. Ever since then I kinda regretted the whole thing, knowing mail rail was open yet passing up on the opportunity to give it the full run was a dumb idea. Most explorers would kill to get to see this place.
Occasionally I would check some access points but nothing ever came into fruition. Almost 2 years later I was heading back into London after a fun weekend up north dicking about in some live industry when a text pings in. Mail rail... it's open again...
Knowing how rare ways into the system are, and my regret for passing up on the opportunity almost 2 years back we quickly made a detour and all decided to meet up at a pub near by. We were all knackered from the weekend and had work in the morning but none of that mattered, we knew access would be discovered and patched up the next day and this was the last opportunity.
This time around mail rail was a little different for me. I had a little inconvenience... A broken foot. Access required a bit of a fuck about and climb, but I was wearing a big cast on my foot that would make the climb too tricky. Thankfully The Raw had some spare shoes in the van and was kind enough to lend them to me. With that said I took the cast off my foot, slung it into a bush and carried on.
Let's av it!
Thankfully our access went smoothly and my eyes lit up as I laid eyes onto the track snaking off into the distance. The whole system is pure unadulterated filth and by far the best bit of underground London has to offer. Trains, splits, stations... you name it, it's got it. Imagine the thought of walking through a whole line of the London underground if it was abandoned. Top dollar!
Unfortunately Mail rail isn't quite nice and spacious as the London underground. It's small tunnels mean you have to stoop and walk from station to station, all whilst trying not to trip over the rails. A broken foot really did not help me out, on multiple occasions I almost stacked it tripping over the rails and genuinely got pissed off at one point. I didn't really fancy doing more damage to my foot as it was taking a ridiculous amount of time to heal (Probably because I spent most nights doing shit like this with it)
These hefty bunker like blast doors are probably my favourite part about the system. It had a reminiscent of the Ukrainian or Russian metro systems just on a MUCH smaller scale. Some writing had been etched onto this door.
"Welcome to jolly M.P." (Mount Pleasant)
"Mind your head"
Mount pleasant is the main station within the system stacked up with trains and various other equipment. They've now decided to open this section up as a museum where you can pay for tours.
It just ain't the same though? Is it? The allure and mysteriousness this place holds, the fact only a small selection of people over the years have managed to gain access and walk the tunnels. That certain sense of speciality that mail rail once had will no longer be the same.
We eventually arrived back to our entrance point where nearly 7 hours ago we delved into the suburban gem. Smothered in filth from head to toe we made our exit, the sun now illuminating the London streets. As I slumped and propped myself up against the bus shelter I couldn't help but have a huge smile on my face. I could finally put mail rail to bed and stop regretting that night all them years back. Saying our goodbyes we parted ways and I headed back home where my housemates were already up getting ready for work. Concerned by the sheer amount of exhaustion on my face and wondering what antics that I had been up to this weekend I just assured them it was a good one. Just enough time to hop in the shower and back on the tube and into work.
Thanks to those that made it happen, you know who you are.
BCC x
POSTED BY GRITTY CITY
Source - http://www.grittycity.co.uk/2017/05/the-post-office-railway-mail-rail.html
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