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Plans to reopen part of Post office underground railway London

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Eire Sprinter

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Had an opportunity to browse the current (presume Jan or Feb issue) of Railway Magazine earlier today.

It contained a short news piece regarding the Post office underground railway in London.

I can't remember it word for word but the gist essentially was of a plan to open part of the railway as a tourist attraction and there was a mention of funding (think Lottery funding).

(Did a search before posting this and there doesn't seem to be any recent mention of this railway).
 
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Chris125

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So, has this been announced before a feasibility study has been undertaken, or after? Call me a cynic but i think i can guess which...

Chris
 

STEVIEBOY1

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Had an opportunity to browse the current (presume Jan or Feb issue) of Railway Magazine earlier today.

It contained a short news piece regarding the Post office underground railway in London.

I can't remember it word for word but the gist essentially was of a plan to open part of the railway as a tourist attraction and there was a mention of funding (think Lottery funding).

(Did a search before posting this and there doesn't seem to be any recent mention of this railway).

Not quite sure how it work as a tourist attraction, but it would be good if it was reopened, better still if it could be used as it should be, IE Mail rail, it would take some of the road traffic away from the busy streets of London.
 

Aictos

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Not quite sure how it work as a tourist attraction, but it would be good if it was reopened, better still if it could be used as it should be, IE Mail rail, it would take some of the road traffic away from the busy streets of London.

I agree, rather then have Royal Mail HGVs/LGVs trundling across London, they ought to make better use of what they already have ie the Underground Railway and make far better use of their Princess Royal Distribution Centre by sending more mail by train after all, surely even a 4 car train can take the same amount of mail or even more then 4 HGVs?
 

Greenback

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I agree, rather then have Royal Mail HGVs/LGVs trundling across London, they ought to make better use of what they already have ie the Underground Railway and make far better use of their Princess Royal Distribution Centre by sending more mail by train after all, surely even a 4 car train can take the same amount of mail or even more then 4 HGVs?

Sensible in theory, but the problem is that most of the sorting offices that used to be served by the PO Underground Railway are no longer there. The mail centres now, like so many other things, have been closed or relocated to other sites.
 

Steve B

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I agree, rather then have Royal Mail HGVs/LGVs trundling across London, they ought to make better use of what they already have ie the Underground Railway and make far better use of their Princess Royal Distribution Centre by sending more mail by train after all, surely even a 4 car train can take the same amount of mail or even more then 4 HGVs?

If you are referring to the narrow gauge units of the PO railway then this might be optimistic. I think you could probably get 4 complete trains (stacked) into one average artic HGV! They are not big.

I had the pleasure of visiting the railway in the early 1970's when it was very much in use. Driverless trains, controlled in the station areas like a giant model railway, and a very slick operation. How it would stack up as a tourist attraction is questionable. If they restored it to show how it worked "back in the day" it would be great, but may lack appeal to the wider public. Adapting it into a tourist railway would need to be done very carefully if it wasn't to lose it's special character.

Steve B
 

Aictos

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If you are referring to the narrow gauge units of the PO railway then this might be optimistic. I think you could probably get 4 complete trains (stacked) into one average artic HGV! They are not big.

I had the pleasure of visiting the railway in the early 1970's when it was very much in use. Driverless trains, controlled in the station areas like a giant model railway, and a very slick operation. How it would stack up as a tourist attraction is questionable. If they restored it to show how it worked "back in the day" it would be great, but may lack appeal to the wider public. Adapting it into a tourist railway would need to be done very carefully if it wasn't to lose it's special character.

Steve B

Was referring to Class 325s ;)
 

Barclay

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The partial reopening is part of a larger scheme for a postal museum at Mount Pleasant sorting office.
 

yummy125

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I'll love to see this re-open to the public on certain days for tours, maybe London transport can look after the line.
 

sprinterguy

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Was referring to Class 325s ;)
Regarding the class 325s, one 4-car Class 325 unit is roughly equivalent to 3 HGVs. The driving cars can accomodate 42 York cages while the intermediate vehicles take 44. Royal Mail make widespread use of "double stack" HGVs that take York cages on two levels, so the older double-stack lorries take 74 Yorks while the newer double-stacks that are becoming more widespread take 92, meaning that one class 325 unit is only equivalent to two of the newer "double-stack" lorries.
 

Peter Mugridge

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The class 325s still have the advantage of being able to travel at 100mph compared to the 56mph of the lorry, and a triple unit 325 rake means one driver can shift the same volume of mail that would take 6 to 9 drivers on the road.
 

tsr

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There was a thread about urban explorers going down there, and in some places the rails were still shiny so it may still get kept in a running condition. Here's the previous thread http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=44471

I believe some maintenance trains still run and a limited (but functional) engineering regime is in place. CCTV is still monitored. This means that the conductor rail is sometimes "live" and it is extremely dangerous for "urban explorers" as a result. I have spoken to a knowledgeable person this afternoon, who I am not at liberty to name, who says that there are no current plans to completely shut down the system, but no current formal plans to resume service of any further kind. He did, however, hint at possible future feasibility studies for mail and possibly even passenger use. Seriously!
 

Mr Sam

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i used to be a keen 'urban explorer' but dont get out enough these days im sure his visit was a planned visit and partial tour
 

tsr

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i used to be a keen 'urban explorer' but dont get out enough these days im sure his visit was a planned visit and partial tour

If you're referring to the SilentUK crew... no, it was not at all official, and in fact they very nearly got themselves killed.
 
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