The Postal Museum will celebrate 100 years of Mail Rail next year with a new exhibition.
The London-based museum, which opened in 2017, will launch Powering the Post, it’s new exhibition focused on stories of invention, engineer and experimentation behind the post, including lessons learned from the ideas that didn’t deliver, in Mail Rail’s centenary year.
In 1927, the General Post Office opened the world’s first driverless, electric railway, now known as Mail Rail. At its peak, the service carried four million letters a day beneath London’s streets.
The network would go on to connect eight subterranean stations, from Paddington to Whitechapel.
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The railway closed in 2003, but The Postal Museum allows visitors to ride through the network’s underground tunnels.
The museum has announced plans to celebrate 100 years of Mail Rail with a programme of events, lead by the new temporary exhibition, opening on 29 May 2027.
The exhibition will focus on stories of invention and experimentation behind the post – including lessons to be learned from the ideas that didn’t deliver, like Rocket Mail, a failed attempt at delivering letters by missile.
Co-produced with postal workers and local residents from communities local to Mail Rail’s Mount Pleasant station, the exhibition will feature interactive elements which curators hope will inspire the next generation of problem solvers.
Chris Taft, Head of Collections, The Postal Museum, said, “In 1927, an underground fleet of driverless electric trains provided a pioneering solution to a city whose streets were quickly filling with traffic. In Mail Rail’s centenary year, Powering the Post will celebrate the inventive engineers whose spirit of experimentation has helped keep us all connected.”
Further details of the Mail Rail 100 programme will be announced in 2027.
