Mail Rail

Mail Rail was the Royal Mail automated underground railway that transferred mail between various locations in London. The railway opened in 1927 and closed in 2003. A couple of years ago the new Postal Museum opened at Mount Pleasant sorting office and a centrepiece of the museum is the Mail Rail exhibit with newly build special trains taking people on trips of some of the old tracks. I travelled on that train yesterday and it is an excellent visitor attraction.

However the real purpose for my visit came later when I joined a walking tour of the tunnels and Mount Pleasant station. Now I have done a number of Hidden London tours in disused parts of tube stations but this tour was something else entirely walking on the tracks, often with hidden obstacles in the dim light deep underground. I have to rate this as one of the best rail adventures I have ever made. Years ago my Great Uncle Leslie worked at Mount Pleasant, I don't know where exactly he worked but maybe he worked on the Mail Rail all those years ago. You can see my photos here.

Gerrards Cross cyphers

When I visited Gerrards Cross a few weeks ago I found some more postboxes with the King George V royal cypher, as I've seen before in Four Oaks and Erdington.

Erdington postboxes

You can do far and wide to see stuff but sometimes the interesting things are right on your doorstep. While waiting for my car to be repaired the garage (pothole damage) i had a walk around the local area. I discovered a George V postbox in Erdington which was interesting. However what was even more exciting was finding an Edward VII postbox right around the corner from my Mum's house. I do find this a bit odd as surely I would have noticed this before but anyway there it is.

Royal cypher

A Royal cypher is a "monogram-like device of a country's reigning sovereign" (Wikipedia) which in the UK is most commonly seen on postboxes which usually bear EIIR standing for Elizabeth II of course. However there are still many postboxes which still bear the names of earlier monarchs. Most of these are for George VI and George V but even some for Edward VIII during his short reign and earlier monarchs.

In Four Oaks is a postbox which bears the cypher GR which dates it from the reign of George V which means it was probably installed between 1910 and 1936.