Victorian pneumatic mail tube systems (London’s ’Mail Rail’) 🔍

Postal engineer and pneumatic tube designer (1853 - 1910)

In the 1860s, London operated a network of 3-foot-wide pneumatic tubes under the streets, sending mail canisters at high pressure between post offices and major rail stations. This subterranean, claustrophobic, and almost forgotten transport system created a parallel, breathless infrastructure beneath the city.