SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

This is not all that long ago and it may even still be there. Was it the back of the Post office on New York Street. I remember seeign it open but I don't have much cause to walk down Kirkgate these days.

Yes, I used to stand waiting for the bus coming home from work opposite the back of the post office and there certainly was a turntable as you say. It was used when post office delivery vans were dropping off/picking up mail and due to the congestion of the street and so as to get the van off the road a loading bay was built. However, due to the narrowness of the building there wasn't/isn't sufficient room for the van to pull in and load/unload, then pull back out again, so a turntable was put in place to get the van pointing in the right direction to exit. I watched it a couple of times and it was ingenious.

A mate of mine has one of these in his drive in Scarborough. He didn't have it installed it was there when he moved in. It's only for turning the car but is very useful as his house is on Columbus Ravine and the road is is usually blind left and right with holiday makers cars.

Bit of a different angle on the thread ..but by all accounts there was a underground railway that ran from the building with the turntable which was the market post office up to the Head Post Office in city square ...it was not a very large bore tunnel but was wide enough to accomodate mail sacks !        

billy the buffalo wrote: Bit of a different angle on the thread ..but by all accounts there was a underground railway that ran from the building with the turntable which was the market post office up to the Head Post Office in city square ...it was not a very large bore tunnel but was wide enough to accomodate mail sacks !         London had a dedicated underground for mail transport - I didn't think anywhere else has.

I remember a Blue Peter thing about something similar in LondonLand. Didn't they put someone in it?

I don't think that turntable has been used for a long time,possibly because larger vans are used by Royal Mail and the security threat to a Crown Post Office in the centre of town which probably has quite a stash of cash therein.

The former underground postal railway is well documentedon the internet.With traffic congestion in central London it seems strange to abandon it.

Cardiarms wrote: I remember a Blue Peter thing about something similar in LondonLand. Didn't they put someone in it? The line linked the major sorting offices with a hub at Mount Pleasant. The trains were on a three foot gauge and big enough for mail bags but not much else although people did ride in them. It was only fully shut down in the late 90s I think.

simong wrote: Cardiarms wrote: I remember a Blue Peter thing about something similar in LondonLand. Didn't they put someone in it? The line linked the major sorting offices with a hub at Mount Pleasant. The trains were on a three foot gauge and big enough for mail bags but not much else although people did ride in them. It was only fully shut down in the late 90s I think. Certainly must go back a way, I first read of it in Arthur Mees Childrens' Encyclopedia, you remember, books!