The Postal Museum

And a trip to London by an NZ Postie would not be complete without a visit to The Postal Museum.

The visit started with a trip on the Mail Rail. I had never heard of this before, but there was a network of underground train lines from Whitechapel to Paddington. Traffic congestion in the early 1900’s was so bad it would take hours to get across central London, so a faster way was needed t to get the mail through.

The passenger underground had been developed and was expanding, so they decided to build their own postal underground. It opened in 1927.

The tunnels were about 1•5 metres high, and the trains were driverless electric ones. These have been adapted for tourists, they fit one adult width, and about 4 per carriage and 3 or 4 carriages. They have a round Perspex roof so you get a good view of where you’re going.

There is about 25 miles of track but the section we were on was only about 2 miles.

This was to move the mail that came in from regional trains to the sorting office. It was also used to shift mail from one depot to another.

The system was fitted with flood gates at Liverpool St in case the Thames rose too much, and operated through out the war, even through the blitz.

The central depot was Mt Pleasant in Central London, and this is still the main mail sorting place for the Royal Mail, and it also houses the museum which we went to next. The last train was 2003.

Above ground, mail bags were collected and despatched from moving trains, and in the longer trips there were carriages for sorting the mail while the train was moving. There was an interactive display where you could have a go, while the carriage bumped and jostled about.

The museum was interesting, showing the origins of mail and how it’s changed. In the beginning the receiver paid the fee which the delivery person collected. Then Rowland Hill came up with the idea of stamps to show that delivery was prepaid, and the Penny Black stamp came into being.

Even saw King Charles stamp

Met a couple of guys who work in the sorting division, and they gave us some background and current situation. They are trialing e-bikes for inner city London instead of walking, and also trialing drones to some of the outer islands of Scotland!

Overall a great visit, if any of you Postie’s are ever in London, you’ve got to come and see this fun exhibition.

In Oxford now, and met Geoff the local postie, he parks up the van, walks his mail, then back to the van to move it further on his round. Similar to how some of us did it during Covid, I thought they would have been more advanced for this area as it is detached or semidetached housing so similar to NZ. One of the locals decorates this Post Box depending on the season or current events. Nice!

Overall, same same but different.