{"id":108855,"date":"2017-07-30T21:59:48","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T01:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=108855"},"modified":"2017-07-30T21:59:48","modified_gmt":"2017-07-31T01:59:48","slug":"secret-tube-to-whisk-tourists-beneath-london-in-britains-most-incredible-rail-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/07\/30\/secret-tube-to-whisk-tourists-beneath-london-in-britains-most-incredible-rail-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Secret tube to whisk tourists beneath London in Britain’s most incredible rail journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON, July 31 — A miniature railway that once whisked more than 4 million letters and parcels a day deep beneath London is to be brought back into use as a heritage tourist attraction.<\/span><\/p>\n

From the 1920s, the network of rail tunnels was operational day and night along the little known “Post Office” railway, linking major postal sorting offices in the capital.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tickets have now gone on sale for the first journeys along the route when it officially opens to visitors on Sept. 4.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rail journey, in a specially built miniature rail carriages, is expected to become the star attraction at London’s new Postal Museum which opened Friday to tell the story of Britain’s Royal Mail.<\/span><\/p>\n

The museum, opened by the Postal Heritage Trust, brings five centuries of British communications history to life, with displays and objects, such as a hand pistol issued to postmen in the past to protect them from robbers known as highwaymen.<\/span><\/p>\n

The trust is now responsible for the massive collection of memorabilia, much of it on public display at the museum in Phoenix Place, Farringdon in central London.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tickets are already selling fast for the railway experience, travelling on the 11-kilometer long “secret” rail network, that criss-crossed London’s more famous Underground Rail network.<\/span><\/p>\n

The subterranean train network stretched from Whitechapel to Paddington, employing a staff of more than 200 postal workers. It enabled mail to be moved around London away from the crowded and busy streets above,.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Postal Railway finally closed in 2003, but has remained mothballed until now.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the first people to be given a sneak preview of the new railway trains was Queen Elizabeth’s daughter, the Princess Royal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because of the narrow width and height of the tunnels, two new trains have been adapted from the original design to enable them to carry passengers in miniature wagons.<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesman at the museum said: “For more than 75 years, the postal rail was a vital artery in Britain’s communication network, hidden from view. Now our visitors will be able to experience it from Sept. 4.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON, July 31 — A miniature railway that once whisked more than 4 million letters and parcels a day deep …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":65579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[20015,1036,20014],"class_list":["post-108855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-travel","tag-heritage-tourist-attraction","tag-london","tag-miniature-railway","mauthors-xinhua","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}