If you know of anything else that is hidden below the streets of London, let us know and we will look into exploring it too

So, it didn't fail. The world changed, and it was no longer needed.

It feels like it should be possible to get some sort of use out of it, tunnels are a valuable investment, especially when they link together multiple train stations.

Chicago has a similar freight unnel network under the city streets. It is connected to the basement of many of the buildings downtown and a rail network provided delivery service for packages as well as coal for heating to the buildings. The network was shutdown in 1959 and largely forgotten. In 1992, one of the tunnels under the Chicago river was punctured. This flooded the system as well as two dozen buildings that still had open tunnel connections. The tunnels are now used primarily for utility and communication lines.

I used to take Opinion Formers on Mail Rail in the 1990’s when I was a Public Affairs Executive at The Post Office Corporation. We had a few carriages with plexiglass domes and seats for the MPs, Peers etc to sit in whilst we ran them around the network. It was an incredible successful operation and transported vast amounts of mail daily. There was a proposal to extend the route to Willesden, the home of the Princess Royal Distribution Centre. The PRDC was the southern hub of the Travelling Post Office and the Networker system. We actually opened several dedicated Sorting Offices on the National Rail Network. My last opening event took place in Bristol. When Mail volumes dropped and the reliability of EWS to deliver Mail by train became a massive problem, we looked at moving Mail to roads. A study was undertaken to open Mail Rail to Oxford Street shops, and by doing so it would reduce the amount of vehicular traffic. But, the study showed that the idea wasn’t feasible and Mail Rail closed. The Travelling Post Office network also went the same way. The PRDC is now, from what I understand, mostly used as a vehicle hub?

Mail Rail can be seen in action, in the Bruce Willis movie "Hudson hawk", where it is portrayed as "The Vatican's mail system". The extra's in the scene, are (or were) Mail Rail employees. Watch the film and you will see it in action.

Apparently Moscow has a “secret” subway built under the existing subway. It was used by the USSR’s elite to get around the capital. It would be interesting to know more about that.

Letter posted in Bristol would be sorted in Bristol, and if going to Manchester would be put on a train going to Manchester (not necessarily a Travelling Post Office train). On arrival in Manchester, it would then be sorted for the specific delivery round.

Regarding vacuum tube mail delivery, Paris adopted such a system which ran from 1868 all the way to 1984 allowing the delivery of urgent messages within minutes. The network covered 427km at it's maximum, and carried up to 30 million message per year. Today the network is no longer in use but some of the pumping stations responsible for the running of the system still exist.

I remember being part of a group looking into the possibility of using the Mail Rail trains to deliver stock to the large retail outlets in Oxford Street, e.g. Selfridges. The trains passed just below the basements of these premises, so it was technically feasible.

Never knew this existed. I'm very fascinated with these tunnels, ngl. Thanks for sharing mate

Good to hear about this. Very interesting. One item - @3:50 … your reference to “an electronic railway..” it really would have been an “electric railway” - control systems would have been quite basic back then - consisting of mechanical switches, usually with human operators. Electronic ( even primitive electronics) controls didn’t really come into use until much later in the 20th century. So, even today - “electric” trains may be controlled electronically - but the train itself is electric.

I hosted a meeting with B.R. engineers at Mount Pleasant. After the meeting I arranged a visit to Mail Rail and we were shown all around the maintenance area. B.R. Engineers were very impressed with how clean the area was.

Actually, mail would be delivered the very next day, not in a couple of days. And mail posted within a town or city would often be delivered the same day!

Top quality and always interesting topics!

Back when there were two deliveries a day - my grandmother said that she could send a letter in the morning, to her sister two miles away, and recieve a reply in the afternoon mail. This was before the they had telephones. :)

I am surprised that the likes of Amazon or another parcel company have not taken it over and extended it.

Thank you for a charming look into yesteryear. I remember seeing these mail trains in an old "Boys Own Annual" books from the 1950s/60s . :)

Rail mail had an open day some time in the 80's and my Dad took me to see it. I don't really remember much about it but do remember being taken on a ride through the tunnels in a train adapted for carrying people.

I did not know this about London at all, how interesting!

This is the first time that I have come across this channel. I enjoyed it very much. Very professional, and enjoyable. So, I subscribed

It could still be useful for parcel delivery.

Superb video, actually going and getting the access rather than sitting on stock footage or simply visiting like everyone else.

So, moving the main sorting office and Blair/Brown nationalisation spelled the end. Great video. The sewers (the new one too) and the river Fleet are other underground London marvels.

I had hear about this system, however I had NO IDEA it was the lynchpin of the UK postal system... great documentary, thank you!

The other thing to note is that hardly any mail is sent by rail anymore.i believe the terminal in West London is Willesden. This survived very short time e. For its intended use. I believe it’s still used but nothing like the volumes it was built for. I took a trip on it last Christmas, I’d recommend anyone to do the same.

It "failed" like steam engines "failed:" something replaced it after working perfectly well.

This was so ahead of its time

it's not abandoned. i've been on it. it's now a tourist attraction where you can travel between two station in specially designed trains. just look it up.

Mrs Richards: "I paid for a room with a view !" Basil: (pointing to the lovely view) "That is Torquay, Madam ." Mrs Richards: "It's not good enough!" Basil: "May I ask what you were expecting to see out of a Torquay hotel bedroom window ? Sydney Opera House, perhaps? the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically past?..." Mrs Richards: "Don't be silly! I expect to be able to see the sea!" Basil: "You can see the sea, it's over there between the land and the sky." Mrs Richards: "I'm not satisfied. But I shall stay. But I expect a reduction." Basil: "Why?! Because Krakatoa's not erupting at the moment ?

Margret Thatcher, privatisation.... should I go on?!

I remember reading about the Post Office railway in the London Transport Magazine back sometime in the early fifties. My Father was a London Transport employee (worked at the Acton works), so he got the magazine regularly. The PO railway was featured as something which would be of interest to the the staff of London Transport, especially the railwaymen.

Backin the 1920’s mail delivery was next day or even same day! Grandad in business said there were several post deliveries to his work every working day!

It actually only took 1 day from Bristol to Manchester until about 2000 and reliability was near to 100%. The railway was only abandoned when next dat delivery was abandoned.

Surely they could use to move parcels and goods from one side of London to the other.

This a good video keep it up!

The incompetence of Royal Mail that should never have been split to from the Post Office. Love the American pronunciation of DEPOT😂

Very interesting that these existed and that I've never heard of it! Great work!

14:30 Here's one for you: Even fewer people know of its existence, but if you want an abandoned tunnel urbex/planning archive challenge, how about digging up any information you can on the abandoned freight tunnel from Harrods Depository on the southern bank of the river Thames near Barnes to the eponymous tourist trap, sorry, high class store in Knightsbridge‽

I needed to know why they couldn’t dig a tunnel and do an extension for most of the mainline Trains so that they could extend the unused abandoned underground train stations. Why couldn’t they use the part D78 Stock train doors on the sides and also restructure the front face of the A60 and A62 stock which will include the class 507, class 508, class 313, class 314 and class 315 remix and make them all together and also redesign all of them into an overhead wire line trains and also make most of them into Five carriages per units and also having three Disabled Toilets on those Five cars per units A60 and A62 stock trains and also convert the A60 and A62 stock trains into a Gardner 6LXC, Cummins M11, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXB, Gardner LG1200 and Gardner 8LXB Diesel Engines and also put the Loud 8-Speed Voith Gearboxes even Loud 10-Speed Leyland Hydra cyclic Gearboxes in the A60 and A62 stock, class 507, class 508, class 313, class 314, and class 315 and also modernise the A60 and A62 stock and make it into 11 carriages per unit so it could have fewer doors, more tables, computers and mobile phone chargers? A Stock Train and 8 Disabled Toilets on those A stock trains. why couldn’t we refurbish and modernise the waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel and make it even much more Larger and extend it to the bank station, making it into a Triple-Track Railway Line so those Five countries such as Australia, Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden to convert the waterloo and city line Triple-Track Railway tunnel into a High-Speed Railway lines? The Third Euro tunnel Triple-Track Railway line to make it 11 times better for passengers so they could go from A to B. Then put the modernised 11 carriages per unit A Stock and put them on a bigger modernised Waterloo and city line Triple-Track train tunnel so it could go to bank station to those Five countries such as Australia, Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. The modernised refurbished 11 carriages per unit A stock could be a High Speed The Third Triple-Track Euro Tunnel Train So it is promising and 47 times a lot more possible to do this kind of project if that will be OK for London Australia, Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden. oh by the way, could they also tunnel the Triple-Track Railway Line so it will stop from Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex so that the Passengers will go to Australia, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden and also extend the Triple-Track Railway Line from the Bank to Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex Stations so that more people from there could go to Australia, Germany, Italy, Poland And Sweden more Easily. Why couldn't they extend the Piccadilly Line and also build brand-new underground train stations so it could go even further right up to Clapton, Wood Street can they also make another brand new underground train station in Chingford and could they extend the Piccadilly Line and the DLR right up to Chingford? All of the classes 150, 155, 154, 117, 114, 105, and 106, will be replaced by all of the Gardner 6LXC, Cummins M11, Volvo B10M, Gardner 6LXB, Gardner LG1200 and Gardner 8LXB Diesel Five carriages three disabled toilets are air conditioning trains including Highams Park for extended roots which is the Piccadilly line and the DLR trains. Could you also convert all of the 1973 stock trains into an air-conditioned maximum speed 78 km/hours (48 MPH) re-refurbished and make it into a 8 cars per unit if that will be alright, and also extend all of the Piccadilly train stations to make more space for all of the extended 8 car per unit 1973 stock air condition trains and can you also build another Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive Companies and can they order Every 87 Octagon and Every 48 Hexagon shape LNER diagram unique small no.13 and unique small no.11 Boilers from those Countries such as Greece, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, can they make Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive speeds by up to 147MPH so you can try and test it on the Original Mainline so it will be much more safer for the Passengers to enjoy the 147MPH speed Limit only for HS2 and Channel Tunnel mainline services, if they needed 16 Carriages Per units, can they use those class 55’s, class 44’s, class 40’s and class 43HST Diesel Locomotive’s right at the Back of those 18 Carriages Per Units so they can take over at the Back to let those Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s have a rest for those interesting Journeys Please!!!!, oh can you make all of those 18 Tonne Boxes of Coal for all of those 147MPH Mayflower and Tornado Steam Locomotive’s so the Companies will Understand us PASSENGER’S!!!! So please make sure that the Builders can do as they are told!!!!!!!!!!!! And PLEASE do something about these very very important Professional ideas Please? Prime Minister of England, Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister of Germany, Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister of Poland and that Includes the Mayor of London.

Exceptionally well done video. Thank you.

It's not a city thing but the US state of Florida was millions of miles of natural underground tunnels full of fresh water that zing and zang all over the place . Many are so big people can sub throw them.

Beautifully edited and made!

NYC had an air tube system Some still survives

Love hearing more about the Mail Rail!

I had the opportunity to see the mail railway when I was apprenticed to Sperry Gyroscope as they maintained the embedded microcontroller that ran the railway. The also manufactured and maintained the STD drum equipment used by the GPO( now BT)

My Grandfather worked on the mail rail from its early days through to the mid 60s. I know about about it from what my grandmother told me after he died and I was a bit older.

I love infrastructure like this. I hope they find new use for this. I'm surprised some big company hasn't found a way to utilize it in tandem with their business or maybe the government finding some kind of way to use it.. Idk. It just seems valuable and useful

City Hall Station in NYC is another bit of abandoned underground infrastructure that'd be awesome to see more of if you ever got the chance.

Great as usual

I love seeing this railway, it was years ahead of it's time, and such an interesting line

That rail network has really economic value today thanks to thanks to the huge jump in package shipping thanks to Amazon. Slip so FC or Distros on top of the old station

Many people of my age learned about this system when it was showcased on the kids program “Blue Peter” in the sixties.

It's not really a network as there's only one line, extending from Paddington to Whitechapel with some fancy (but not networky) trackwork at Mount Pleasant.

Great informative video! 😃

Stop bullshitting. I worked for royal mail and it was shut as the 8 London mail centres were shut down to 2. It was due to falling letter numbers. That's why they have just stopped sending mail by air this year. Also the reason they got rid off the travelling post office ( TPO) on the railway. That's why the service is terrible now. Letters being left in the slots for days at a time because the posties walks are far too big. It's all about money now and not service. When I worked as a postie not one letter could be left undelivered, or you would be done for wilfully delay and sacked. All this mail not being delivered for days at a ti.E are with the managers blessing. It's all about parcels now. And then the CEO of RM got caught bullshiting parliament. He was a little sniffling knob anyway.

as south east asian, specifically in bandung, hopefully our public transportation getting better.

really interesting, and well made ⭐

Wow!! Amazing video!! Wow!! I know this from The Amazing Race!!

That's a very weird graph at 2:39. The axis goes from 50 to 100 to 500?

As an urban explorer I found it interesting to explore and even better because I’ve been to all the stations and Saw rare locomotives that you don’t see in the museum I believe that are not accessible anymore it’s sad to see it rot away and flood and only one part of mail rail is still accessible on the loop mount Pleasant fun fact of mail rail they was going to turn it in to a bicycle tunnel for people but the plan never went through also cross rail to go through but never happen either which is nice so it’s still all one tunnel still most of mail rail is capped or locked with few entry points one station which had me amazed was king Edward building bank that had concrete pumped into it when i looked to me it was a mixture of small and bigger stations like Paddington rathbone place and Liverpool Street station and Whitechapel seemed bigger than the rest of the stations all round loved it and best railway in London

BT Tunnels under London next please...

Look at the several deep shelters plus the BT underground exchange tunnel designed to survive a nuclear ☢️ strike

Hi There my real Name is Mr Cannadine T. Boxill-Harris, I have another interesting idea for most of us Class 507, Class 508, Class 313, and Class 314 and that also includes those interesting Class 315 Fans out there, rather than scrapping most of those Class 507, Class 508, Class 313's Class 314 including the Class 315's maybe you guys can convert them. Including the refurbishment into the Volvo TD102KF Engine, Volvo B10M Engine, Leyland 510 Engine, Scania N112 Engine, Cummins M11 Engine, Gardner LG1200 Engine, Gardner 6LXB Engine, Gardner 8LXB Engine, Class 507, Class 508, Class 313's, Class 314's and the Class 315's and convert all of them into a 2 Carriages and Three Carriages of the Class 313's, Class 314's and that is including those Class 315's for most of us Class 314 and Class 315 Diesel Train Fans PLEASE? Are you still going to do this interesting type of Project for all of us out there Pretty Please.

Another system also existed in london called the London Necropolis Railway that was used to carry bodies out of london to the cemeteries surrounding. Worth looking into.

I cannot help but think that it must be cheaper to expand the diameter of these existing tunnels than build completely new ones outright - perhaps they could be redone to double as a new underground line. Large profile like the Elizabeth line would probably not be feasible, but small profile such as the piccadilly line should be doable. Wonder why TFL didn't at least study that proposal.

Underground topic suggestion: Sewers!

Im thinking a look into the London sewer network could be interesting, starting with The Great Stink.

Here we go again: Subways in the UK :D

Sorry, but one of the first comments in the video is nonsense. Letters from Bristol to Manchester have never gone via London. Trains used to travel all over, including Bristol/Birmingham/Manchester.

Very interesting

Something wrong with the audio mix, after the first minute the voice over goes really low in volume.

make a great cycle path

Is it ordinary narrow gauge?

It wasn’t secret It was known about

I wonder if the tunnels would be big enough for a Tesla tunnel thing like they have in Las Vegas.

it's notabamdoned-you can pay to ride along it.

Very interesting. Thanks for "posting". Was closing the line another Royal Mail b Looks like it to me.lunder (Balls Up) like the Recent Computer scandal, proving the highly paid Bosses have no clue on the every day workings?

I blame the handbag, but you're probably too young to remember that particular Nasty Party nightmare we had to endure.

This is a totally misleading video title. It is not an “abandoned subway”. It was a mail distribution system.

Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel!

clickbait title

In the 1930s it was possible to send a letter by first morning collection in London to Limerick, Cork, Waterford etc. letter arriving the following day (Tuesday) if a quick reply sent on receipt, the reply would arrive in London on Wednesday. Today sending a letter from London to cities in Ireland takes 5 days, one way and this is mirrored in the postal service to Paris and Berlin. That’s progress, although on one occasion I sent Christmas cards to Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, the cards arrived in Australia and New Zealand before Ireland and they now cost the same to post. Small point, the narrator needs to learn how to pronounce three, it’s not “free.”

Why is it still lit killing energy a bit like the rest of the abandoned subteranainal network drawing power like mad supprised its not full of weed yet

Post office rail isnt a subway. Subways are passenger trains. Which there are many still in operation in London.

Ok

Misleading title. It’s not a subway system if it was never designed for people, just mail.

omg u are adorable

Informative but pronouncing 'th' as an 'f' or 'v' is like nails down a chalkboard

annoying sound effect

When you talk about Mail Rail in the video, you should have written "Mail Rail" rather than just "Subway" in the title. That's why I give you DISLIKE.

two fousand and free... maybe some lessons in enunciation are required...

It’s ‘three,’ not ‘free.’