guess where I swpent the day

[andy-m]

guess where i spent the day today:-



edit:-
Resurrecting an old thread as you may soon be able to go down there yourself !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25145632

[Mortster]

Lewisham

[Steve_PPP]

Originally Posted by Mortster

Lewisham

That the next generation Eurostar train?

[andy-m]

there are no muggers in the photo so not lewisham lol

[andy-m]

another pic with conveyors on the platform may help :-

[scoobycoops]

That's how I feel at work

[munk]

where is it?? looks very intresting mate..

[andy-m]

It's the mail-rail, which runs east to west under london. was built in the 1920's, extended a few times and the last train running mail under london stopped in 2003

went down at Rathbone Place to look at some work to isolate the platform from the building above and walked along the tracks to the museum street station.


Here's a better picture o fthe red train that was in the tunnel on my first pic. These were bought and put to work in the early 80's



here's one of the 1920's original mail trains which were still in use up untill the last bit of the mailrail line closed on 2003


Here you can see how the side fold down so that the trollies which hold the mail can be rolled of and on to the train, which again is one o fthe 1920's trains


and here is the control room at rathbone place. the line was automatic aparently. this is all 1920's technology and was fully functional up to the line closure in 2003
absolutely sh*tloads of relays. wonder how noisy it was !


and here's a panel at museum street station, which was a 745 meter walk along the lines from Rathbone place


Underneath the lines at museum street, there was also what looked like a model railway. just tracks on a board. Apparently it was used to train staff that worked the mail trains there. couldnt take any pictures as it was too dark down there.

Anyone interested in seeing more, there was a bunch of self named "Urban explorers" who broke in and walked the lines and explored the stations. better quality pics than me as I only used my phone. Worth a read though.:-
http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792

[Granby]

Originally Posted by Mortster

Lewisham

pmsl

[Hongkongfooi]

Interesting mate. 1920's tech still used that late....jeez

[andy-m]

Originally Posted by Hongkongfooi

Interesting mate. 1920's tech still used that late....jeez

i guess it was a case of "if it works, don't fix it"

[Steve_PPP]

Very interesting stuff there

And some cool photos in the other link too. Never even knew such a thing existed!

[Greig]

Would be cool to explore all the hidden underground stations etc

[Greig]

What do you do for a job then? Looks interesting

[andy-m]

Originally Posted by Greig

What do you do for a job then? Looks interesting

i'm a mechanical estimator in the construction industry. the company I work for is part-owned by royal mail so I end up pricing a lot of the maintenance/upgrade works.
I am one of only 2 mechanical estimators for great Britain.
Only been doing it about a year and a half and this was the first time I had to go down to the old mailrail.
I'm probably one of the last people that will go down to Rathbone place station

[bonner]

mental that!! i bet ud get some good money for those pictures! must be a very intresting job yours!

[Banstead Stig]

That's fascinating.

I'd love to poke about there. More interesting than what I see at work!

[andy-m]

Originally Posted by bonner

mental that!! i bet ud get some good money for those pictures! must be a very intresting job yours!

well today was interesting. most of the time it's boring. I end up going to countless post office counters and delivery offices too look at stupid things like check what size the flue is on teh existing boiler to see if it will fit the new boiler, all because the idiot that did the drawings and specified the work didnt think to put the information in the spec or on the drawings.
On the plus side, it usualy means a day out in the scoob lol

Originally Posted by Banstead Stig

That's fascinating.

I'd love to poke about there. More interesting than what I see at work!

yeah, I wish I could have seen the other stations in the flesh too

[andy-m]

Resurrecting an old thread as you may soon be able to go down there yourself !
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25145632