Stamp & Coin Mart - April 2016_

16 APRIL 2016 http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk

Stamp update

A

n incredible £26 million has been raised by the Royal Mail,

the Post Office, and the Heritage Lottery Fund to turn

London’s much-loved British Postal Museum & Archive into

a visitor attraction and research resource. However, the day’s

big news was undoubtedly the rebirth of Mail Rail.

‘This going to be one of the biggest new heritage attractions for

London,’ explains Exhibitions Curator Emma Harper, excitedly, ‘a way

of telling 500 years of social and communications history but to be able

to open up Mail Rail too – which was something that we didn’t think

would be possible – is simply wonderful.’

Before the museums open their doors in the spring of 2017, there’s still

a lot of work to be done, and it began with a literal bang as TV historian

Dan Snow took a sledge hammer to the wall of a pre-fabricated manager’s

office; symbolically returning the rail tunnels to their original condition. ‘I

first came here in 2013 and I was blown away’, he says enthusiastically. ‘I had

no idea there was a network of mail tunnels that stretched from Paddington

to Whitechapel. A narrow gauge railway that kept London’s post moving

through thick and thin... and I’ll make a prediction. The estimated 180,

visitors they hope to attract is being modest. This attraction is unique.’

Mail Rail was moth-balled in 2003 and although the tunnels continue to be

maintained and used for special events, such as a Santa’s Grotto at Christmas,

few have had the opportunity to explore this forgotten piece of postal history.

So, after the ground breaking ceremony, it was a genuine thrill to be treated

to a behind-the-scenes tour which started with a trek down a narrow, spiral

staircase. To our right, the mail chute wound beside us, like a subterranean

helter-skelter. Arriving on the platform, where the chute would have originally

SPECIAL REPORT FROM THE LAUNCH OF THE POSTAL MUSEUM

Going underground

It’s not every day that you run out of the house at 6.30am to stand in a hole in the ground. But then it’s not

every day that you’re invited to the ground breaking ceremony for not one but two new postal attractions,

writes Paula Hammond as she reports from the launch of The Postal Museum brand

Above: an artist’s impression of the forthcoming museum and some of the archive

items and images; left and below: The Mail Rail underground system, which will soon

be converted into a museum attraction (image: The Postal Museum/Miles Willis)

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