Comments on: Making trails through the Mail Rail

Making trails through the Mail Rail

grouse — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:06:23 -0800

Urban explorers surreptitiously gain access to the Post Office Railway underneath London, take lots of photos.

By: Mick

Mick — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:25:27 -0800

Are you sure these aren't screens from Half-Life: Episode 3?

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:28:04 -0800

By: 40 Watt

40 Watt — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:33:08 -0800

I loves me some urban exploration in general, but these are by far some of the coolest shots I've ever seen.

By: queensissy

queensissy — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:33:26 -0800

"Mini York." Now I'm thinking of those little train cars being driven by teams of Yorkies.

By: schmod

schmod — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:38:23 -0800

What is the name of this narrative style, and how can I make sure I never read anything written in it again? Godawful writing aside, I'm surprised that I didn't like this more than I did. I'm usually a big fan of any posts that have anything to do with urban speology or railroads, so the mail rail is obviously fascinating, and I'm sort of puzzled as to why this photoessay wasn't a home run for me. Maybe it's because they neglected to take any pictures of control panels or other detail work, but this feels like "just a bunch of tunnels," and not anything special.

By: zennie

zennie — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:40:32 -0800

" PLEASE KEEP TEA BAGS, ETC .. IN THE BIN NOT ON THE TRACK, THANK YOU " heh

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:41:43 -0800

I kept expecting them to get one of them trains moving. Great pictures, but they all seemed to run together.

By: fritley

fritley — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:47:11 -0800

I felt the same way about the far-off oblique shots of control panels. I would have liked to see more panels/controls/signs/mechanism. train tracks ... wall is round on one side ... more train tracks ...

By: ZenMasterThis

ZenMasterThis — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:54:19 -0800

Remember, remember the 5th of November.

By: Rarebit Fiend

Rarebit Fiend — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:56:35 -0800

Why is an abandoned railway still fully-illuminated by electric light?

By: zennie

zennie — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 13:59:15 -0800

Why is an abandoned railway still fully-illuminated by electric light? I imagine it's so that the security cameras can see people running around taking uninteresting photos of things that are uninteresting. (Seriously, would it have killed them to take some close-up shots the machinery?)

By: Debaser626

Debaser626 — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:02:46 -0800

Yeah.. definitely feels like a "you had to have been there" moments to get the full effect. As a teenager, I used to run the tracks on the NYC subway system... and it's pretty surreal, scary, filthy, dangerous and awesome at the same time. The last time we went, we ended up walking the tracks as normal, dodging trains in the little worker cubbies notched into the tunnel walls, or in the arches in the center "wall." Well, until we got stuck between a Coney Island Bound and a Manhattan Bound "F" train passing each other at the same time, cars passing inches in front of us and behind us. So we decided to head down some stairs to the abandoned-ish express tunnels we had poked our heads into before, and had seen from the subway after a train was rerouted for construction. Having not explored these tunnels before, we just walked in the direction we were headed. It seemed like forever, and eventually we were tired, hungry and finally decided to give up the adventure for the day. Not really even knowing where we were, but not wanting to walk all the way back the way we came, one of my more ballsy friends found a yellow staircase marked "EXIT" and decided to head up it. We all had visions of traffic coming crashing down on us, or surprised shouts of passersby being tripped by a "door" opening in the sidewalk, but as he slowly inched the steel trapdoor open, there was just silence. We asked him where we were, but he just sat in stunned silence, and said in an awed voice, something to the effect of: "I don't know, man... I really don't... There's just grass... and trees.. Where are we?" For the briefest second, visions that some underground portal had transported us to Narnia or some magical place danced in my head... Then.. a siren pierced the air, followed by the guttural blast of the Fire truck's air horn. Far away, but easily recognizable, stealing the magic away... It turned out we were coming up out of the subway access hatch in some field in Prospect Park, but it still is one of the fondest adventure-type memories from my early teens... Good times indeed.

By: JohnnyGunn

JohnnyGunn — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:06:47 -0800

I am surprised that the London mail system hasn't simply released pictures of this to remove the interest in getting inside.

By: sgt.serenity

sgt.serenity — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:11:51 -0800

did they find gordon freeman ?

By: Cat Pie Hurts

Cat Pie Hurts — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:14:34 -0800

Mick: "Are you sure these aren't screens from Half-Life: Episode 3" More like Fallout 3 if you ask me. That would be so awesome to explore as long as your Pipboy 3000 is in working order.

By: burnmp3s

burnmp3s — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:16:37 -0800

Why is an abandoned railway still fully-illuminated by electric light? From the blog post: Flicking a nearby switch kindly labelled "platform lights" the station buzzed and hummed, its lights springing into life one by one in quick succession. It was still being used until 2003, so it's not all that surprising that the lights still worked but were just turned off.

By: justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow

justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:21:58 -0800

I'll see them their tunnel spelunking and raise.

By: General Tonic

General Tonic — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:29:06 -0800

WOW! Do check out the link from justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow, above.

By: schmod

schmod — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:43:27 -0800

Whoa. I'd seen those photos before, and always had a tough time finding them again. I'm pretty sure they're part of a much larger set that's also worth tracking down if you've got the time.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:35:48 -0800

There were no zombies handling mail. The Fuller Memorandum lied to me!

By: uni verse

uni verse — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:52:23 -0800

Also, the cake is a lie.

By: uni verse

uni verse — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:54:09 -0800

Ditto on the pictures... famous quote that reiterates all the comments: "If the picture's not good enough, your not close enough." Still awesome, I envy them.

By: Decani

Decani — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:08:51 -0800

I have lived in London more than half my life and I had no idea this existed. I fucking love London.

By: Zed

Zed — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:16:45 -0800

Pretty sure I just determined a setting for my Bookhounds of London campaign.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:43:59 -0800

Good stuff. This is why I love Metafilter.

By: JLovebomb

JLovebomb — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 16:55:51 -0800

I love photos of spelunking urban and rural ruins, but these less-than-impressive photos make me wish I had shared with MeFi some of the more mind-blowing sites that I've run across having to do with urban decay photographs.

By: Dillonlikescookies

Dillonlikescookies — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:39:05 -0800

Remember, remember, the fifth of november.

By: thewalrus

thewalrus — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:30:41 -0800

Metafilter: Always keep a firm hold of the Mini York.

By: SciencePunk

SciencePunk — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:46:10 -0800

Another member of the Niagara expedition: story, photos.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 04:01:54 -0800

Pretty cool, but I agree it could have been better done, and the writing style was atrocious. I will not confirm whether or not these are photos of myself and another un-named mefite exploring Manhattan's High Line whilst it was still under renovation.

By: Joe in Australia

Joe in Australia — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 05:11:50 -0800

I'm really impressed by the care taken to have the little trains - which go nowhere else, can go nowhere else, were seen by nobody except employees - all consistently branded with the Mail Rail logo.

By: Gev

Gev — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 05:34:11 -0800

Is there some kind of requirement that all urban exploration photo sets include at least one photo of a person at the end of a hallway/tunnel that's backlit in such a way that it looks like there's something supernatural going on? That aside, they're some pretty cool photos though I would have also liked to have seen some of the control panels and other signage.

By: Goblinmerchant

Goblinmerchant — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 09:44:49 -0800

Glad everyone is enjoying our crew's exploits. I love these comments about how people could have "done it better". But you didn't did you? It took us over a year to find access to this - please have some respect for those who had the courage to actually do it! The Consolidation Crew has been cracking London and Paris open like never before for two years straight now. It has been a lot of fun and I promise there are a lot more fantastic stories to be told. Stay tuned! -Goblin

By: zennie

zennie — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:14:50 -0800

I love these comments about how people could have "done it better". But you didn't did you? It took us over a year to find access to this - please have some respect for those who had the courage to actually do it! Eh. It was a really cool thing, and you got to do it and see it up close. That's honestly great for you. But people looking at the story and pictures felt a little frustrated and said so. That's not a slam on your bravery, just a note that the UE fans here weren't drawn into the story by the way it was presented.

By: fritley

fritley — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:06:54 -0800

I love these comments about how people could have "done it better". Well actually nobody said that. But several people did say what they would have liked to seen more of in the photos. If you turn down the defensiveness knob a bit (see your only other comment, too), you could use this information to take photos that would have even more impact during your next exploit. Either way, thanks for sharing the pictures, good luck, and I hope you can continue not getting nabbed!

By: crawfishpopsicle

crawfishpopsicle — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 23:38:16 -0800

That rave that happened last year sounded pretty intense. In the article about it that filthy light thief posted it says there were about 1000 people and it had had 30 sound systems and 200 DJs playing throughout the night. That means there was a sound system for every 30 people and a DJ for every 5! Crazy kids. Or more likely, crazy reporter.

By: Goblinmerchant

Goblinmerchant — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 14:02:58 -0800

Sorry people, didn't mean to sound defensive there! As promised, we have now done another write up with more photos. Hope you enjoy!