Page 32 - aruba-today-20170729

A32 FEATURE
Saturday 29 July 2017
Mail Rail lets tourists visit London’s secret postal railway

By JILL LAWLESS of excitement.
Associated Press “We quite like the chal-
LONDON (AP) — London’s lenge of the name Postal
newest tourist attraction is Museum,” Ellison said. “We
perfect for underground want to change people’s
explorers. It’s not ideal for perceptions.
the claustrophobic. “This is far more than post.
A visit to Mail Rail , a sub- It tells a story about human
terranean train network communication,” he said.
that once carried millions Opening to the public Fri-
of letters a day across the day, the museum takes a
city, involves a cramped bright, interactive journey
journey on a very small through the long — 500
train through dark tunnels years — and interesting
70 feet (21 meters) below- story of Britain’s Royal Mail.
ground. It’s atmospheric, Philatelists may be thrilled
but confined. to see one of the only full
“If you’re really tall, you sheets of the first-ever post-
may want to think twice age stamp, the Penny
before you buy a ticket,” Black.
Harry Huskisson, head of Even visitors with no special
communications for Mail interest in stamps or postal
Rail and the related Postal services are likely to be in-
Museum , said during a trigued when they learn
press preview this week. A passenger train rides through the Mail Rail tunnels that is included in the Postal Museum in how mail is woven into the
For 75 years, Mail Rail was London, Wednesday, July 26, 2017. fabric of history. It’s fasci-
the subterranean circula- Associated Press nating to be reminded, for
tory system of Britain’s post- tunnels and offers glimpses dergone myriad uses. Dur- ticket — 16 pounds ($21) for instance, that the doomed
al system. Trains transport- of disused platforms and ing World War I, when the adults — gains admission to RMS Titanic was an official
ed letters, telegrams and a graveyard of dusty old tunnels had been dug but both. mail-carrying vessel — the
packages between rail wagons. the trains were not yet run- Tim Ellison, the museum’s initials stand for “Royal Mail
stations and sorting depots The ambiance is lively, ning, the Rosetta Stone was deputy director, acknowl- Ship.” When it struck an
at speeds impossible on rather than eerie. There’s brought from the British Mu- edged that the name does iceberg, it went down with
London’s traffic-clogged informative audio narra- seum for safe keeping in not convey huge amounts 3,000 sacks of post as well
streets. as 1,500 passengers and
Its driverless electric trains crew.
— cutting-edge when the The story the museum tells is
system opened in 1927 — laced with human connec-
whisked mail across a 6.5- tions and studded with vio-
mile (10 kilometer) stretch lence, from wartime bombs
of the city, from Paddington to pirate attacks on postal
in the west to Whitechapel ships to highwaymen’s
in the east, at up to 35 miles raids on mail coaches.
an hour (56 kph.) Those for whom a short visit
After decades when it is not enough can rent out a
was seen only by the en- brick-vaulted underground
gineers and letter sorters chamber at Mail Rail for
who worked on it, Mail Rail parties or even weddings.
closed in 2003 as the rise There’s not much of a view,
of email sent the volume but the acoustics are fabu-
of paper letters — dismis- lous.
sively branded “snail mail” “I think you probably have
— plummeting. to be of a certain ilk to
Postal chiefs considered us- have your wedding in
ing the tunnels for parcel here,” Huskisson said. “And
deliveries or to grow mush- know your guests well.”q
rooms. In the end, it was
decided to preserve a sec- tion, and several stops for the hidden passage. Part
tion as a companion to the films to be projected on the of the site was turned into
renovated Postal Museum. walls. a replica Vatican for the
Mail Rail is scheduled to Sightseers who prefer to 1991 Bruce Willis caper film
reopen Sept. 4 as a tourist skip the close quarters on “Hudson Hawk.”
attraction aimed at train the trains can stay on the Set underneath the Mount
buffs, postal fans and peo- platform and watch a film Pleasant sorting station in
ple who simply like to nose of the journey. An adjacent central London, Mail Rail
around formerly secret un- display explains the history sits across the street from
derground spaces. of the network and the the renovated Postal Mu-
Visits involve a 20-minute people who worked there. seum, which charts the his-
journey in a compact, Like much of London, a tory of what curators eye-
glass-roofed train that pass- city layered with history, catchingly call “the first
es through grime-encrusted the mail tunnels have un- social network.” A single