Subterranean London's post office railway – the historic Mail Rail – is about to be torn down and transformed into a tourist attraction. "The air has been so still down there that stalactites have formed," says Martin Devereux, head of digital at the British Postal Museum and Archive, about his eerie visits to the long-forgotten Mail Rail.
Now the facility has been scanned in 3D and preserved for posterity. Last December, a team from London 3D-scanning firm ScanLAB was let loose with a FARO Focus3D 120 laser scanner which can create high-resolution, 3D scans of complex interior spaces. The process took five days. "They've given us something really rather beautiful," Devereux comments.
The underground railway system delivered post between sorting offices in London from 1927 until it was decommissioned in 2003. Now, the tunnels are to be redeveloped and opened to everyone, with attractions such as a Mail Rail ride. Before that can happen, extensive renovations will take place. "It's an industrial space," says Devereux.
"It's not set up for the public, so it's going to be changed. We'll be putting in things like fire escapes, for example. We'll have to take some of the old structures away." Now that the scans have been made, however, Devereux hopes that they will be used to create a virtual, interactive replica of the original tracks. "We could take somebody, put an Oculus Rift on them and put them in Mail Rail in their own bedrooms."
This article was originally published in July 2015.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
