All language subtitles for Mysteries.of.the.Abandoned.S03E07.The.Town.that.Disappeared.1080p.DISC.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-DoGSO_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
A country village, eerily empty,

Hides a desperate secret.

It must have been heartbreaking.

These were people who had lived
In this village for generations.

Narrator: a mysterious tower
Battered by the elements

And scarred by war.

The last thing you expect
To see is battle damage.

Narrator: a ravaged town,
Desolate and forgotten,

Decaying in the desert air.

Decaying in the desert air.

Why on earth would anyone choose
To build a town

In such a remote location?

*

Narrator: once, they were some
Of the most advanced structures

And facilities on the planet,

At the cutting edge
Of design and construction.

Today, they stand abandoned,
Contaminated,

And sometimes deadly.

But who built them?
And how?

But who built them?
And how?

And why were they abandoned?

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

*

*

On the southwest coast
Of england

120 miles from
Its capital, london,

Is what looks like
A country village but isn't.

Is what looks like
A country village but isn't.

*

Selwood: the village pond

Looks like any other
Village pond in england,

Except there's
No wildlife there.

There are no ducks.

It's eerily empty.

*

Nusbacher:
The feeling is very much

As though all of the citizens
Of this village

Have just been made
To disappear at a stroke.

Have just been made
To disappear at a stroke.

Narrator: further on,
The strangeness continues.

A few hundred yards from
The village green is a school

That looks perfectly preserved.

Selwood:
The desks are still there.

The books are still there.

It's laid out as if the children
Had only been there yesterday.

*

There are still pegs with their
Names on out in the corridor.

It feels as if it's a school
That's still being used,

But from another age.

But from another age.

*

Price: you get the feeling
That it's break time,

And the children have
Just gone through the door

And are running about outside,
Playing.

Narrator: the church, too,
Is in perfect condition,

The rows of seats
Freshly polished,

And the stained-glass windows

As immaculate as when
They were first installed.

*

And that's not all.

Selwood:
In the middle of the village,

Selwood:
In the middle of the village,

There's an old white
Telephone box,

Which seems something
Of an oddity in this day and age

And even more odd is
The local story that even though

It was disconnected decades ago,
It still rings.

[ telephone rings ]

Narrator: other buildings hint
At a darker narrative,

Like the cottages which are
Little more than empty shells.

Selwood: and these are in
An unusual state of disrepair.

The rooves have gone.
The fittings have gone.

The rooves have gone.
The fittings have gone.

The windows have gone,
But yet at the same time,

These wrecks, these husks,
Have been strengthened.

It's almost as though somebody
Is about to film a movie

About 1930s england.

Price: why on earth are
These buildings like this?

How can you have a little
Schoolroom that looks intact,

A church that looks intact,
But a lot of ruined cottages?

Narrator: so, what calamity has
Happened to leave this village

Narrator: so, what calamity has
Happened to leave this village

So completely abandoned?

*

To find out what's behind
The mystery,

You need to go back
To a single day

That would change the course
Of the second world war.

In 1943, britain was at war.

To win, the allies had
To invade france

And liberate northwest europe
From nazi control.

And liberate northwest europe
From nazi control.

Narrator:
Code named operation overlord,

It would be the largest
Sea-born invasion in history

If they could train
Enough troops in time

To drive out the germans.

Selwood: it was a daunting
Prospect for the british army.

They had to train vast numbers
Of recruits,

Many of whom
Hadn't seen combat before,

And they needed space
And terrain and environments

That were fitting
And that were like

What they were going to face
When they arrived in france.

What they were going to face
When they arrived in france.

*

Narrator:
But what does this have to do

With a small and isolated
Village in rural england,

Which seems a world away
From the dull thud of gunfire

And chaos of war?

By 1943, the south coast
Of england

Had been transformed
Into an armed camp.

11 million acres,
Much of it farmland,

Became airfields, camps,
And training grounds.

Became airfields, camps,
And training grounds.

Narrator:
And more land was needed,

Especially to train british
And american tank crews.

Meigs: if you're training people
To operate tanks,

It's not enough to just learn
How to drive it.

The really key thing is learning
How to shoot it,

So you need long distances
To practice firing those shells

Where you're not going to hit
Anything you don't want to hit.

Narrator:
And this location was ideal.

It was remote and already
Close to a firing range,

It was remote and already
Close to a firing range,

The village of tyneham.

Bell:
The only stumbling block

Was that 200 people lived
In the village.

How do you tell them
They need to leave their homes,

Their jobs,
And their neighbors for good?

*

Narrator:
Lynda price, a local historian,

Has spoken to many
Of the former residents.

Price: the final blow came
In november 1943,

And totally out of the blue,
They all got a letter.

They came from a gentleman from
Southern command, and on it,

He said that the area was needed
For military training,

And they had basically
A month to get out.

Meigs:
It must have been heartbreaking.

These were people who had lived
In this village for generations,

These were people who had lived
In this village for generations,

And all of a sudden,
To be uprooted

And told you have to leave,
And they expected to come back.

You know, that's what's
Very poignant about it.

They thought the war would end,
And they would come back,

And all would be as it was.

*

Narrator:
So, why did the ministry
Of defence choose tyneham?

*

Meigs: tyneham was a backwater
In a backwater.

I mean, it was
Practically off the map.

I mean, it was
Practically off the map.

They didn't have electricity.

Most of them didn't even have
Indoor plumbing.

People forget how primitive
The english countryside

Could be back in that era.

Price:
They lived in little cottages,

Most of which were owned
By the landowner.

In fact, the whole estate
Was owned by the bond family,

And most of these people,

Their lives would've been tied
Into the bonds.

*

So, in some senses,
It was already a way of life

So, in some senses,
It was already a way of life

That was passing, or perhaps
For most people, even passed.

*

Narrator: but why did
The villagers never return,

And what caused so much damage
To tyneham?

*

Narrator: deep in dorset,
England, is a ghost village

Which played a critical part
In the run-up to d-day.

Its inhabitants were ordered
To leave

By the british government,

But why is so much
Of the village destroyed

While other parts
Seem almost perfectly preserved?

Bell: the army knew that the
Church was vulnerable to attack

Bell: the army knew that the
Church was vulnerable to attack

In the run-up to d-day.

They removed the heavy oak
Pulpit and the pews

And carefully transported
The stained glass

To a place of safety.

*

Even if tyneham was abandoned,

It hadn't been
Completely forgotten.

But was the villagers' sacrifice
Worth it?

*

The u.S. Army
Had adopted the area,

And their men and machines were
About to invade omaha beach.

And their men and machines were
About to invade omaha beach.

*

Selwood: the morning
Of the 6th of june, 1944,

Was like no other
The war had ever seen.

Over 150,000 english, american,
Canadian, and other soldiers

Boarded ships, vessels, barges
Of all descriptions

And attacked the french coast.

By the time the battle
There was over

And the forces were able
To push down into france,

The course of the war
Had been changed forever.

The course of the war
Had been changed forever.

Bell:
D-day was a resounding success,

But the villagers
Weren't the only ones

Who had made sacrifices.

Two and a half thousand
U.S. Troops,

Many of whom had trained
At tyneham,

Lost their lives on omaha beach.

*

Narrator: even after the war,

Tyneham continued to be a vital
Training ground for tank crews,

Tyneham continued to be a vital
Training ground for tank crews,

So the villagers
Were never allowed back.

However, when the guns
Stop firing,

The village opens to visitors.

Nusbacher:
When I look at tyneham,

What I think about
Is how much dislocation,

How much destruction,
What a human cost there is

Even to winning a war,
Even to noncombatants.

The level of self-sacrifice
That was necessary to conduct

The level of self-sacrifice
That was necessary to conduct

The kind of total war that was
Required to defeat the nazis,

That kind of effort boggles
The modern mind.

*

Narrator:
17 miles west of mackinaw city

At the northern tip
Of lake michigan

Is a peculiar
Tower-like structure.

*

*

A mountain, a rock sticking out
Of a vast, cold lake.

*

Meigs: you're out here, really
In the middle of nowhere,

And here standing out
In the water is this odd,

Kind of
Half-broken-down structure

That's kind of crumbling
Around the edges.

*

*

Narrator: dazzling sunshine
Reflects from the water

Onto this concrete-
And-brick structure.

Rubble and dead birds
Litter its interior.

*

Bell:
It's made up of three sections,
Which each contain a mystery.

What was enclosed
In the caged top?

And the height
Of the tower itself --

Height always creates
A vantage point, but for what?

Attack? Defense? A warning?

Attack? Defense? A warning?

Narrator: look closely, and
A more sinister picture emerges.

On the walls are large
And ominous cracks.

Inside, it's been gutted apart
From mysterious metal piping.

And it may be haunted by a man
Who met a sudden end.

Bell: the amount of damage
On the tower suggests

It's weathered more
Than just harsh winters,

It's weathered more
Than just harsh winters,

And although the pitted base
May well be from crashing waves,

Is there another reason
Why great chunks are missing?

*

Nusbacher:
When you look at a remote tower

In the middle of nowhere
In america,

The last thing you expect
To see is battle damage.

*

Narrator: what is the secret
To this structure,

Narrator: what is the secret
To this structure,

How was it connected
To a top-secret super weapon,

And why was it abandoned?

*

Narrator:
In the middle of lake michigan

Is a battered
Concrete structure.

Why was it abandoned?

*

The roots of this mystery go
Back to the importance of trade

To the great lakes
In the early 19th century.

Nusbacher:
Before america builds railways,

America's arteries
Were waterways.

America's arteries
Were waterways.

The great lakes and the great
Canals are what enables america

To become
An industrial powerhouse.

Meigs:
The great lakes, together, form,

Really, a massive inland sea

For the united states
And canada,

And this waterway was important
For shipping goods,

So you had fur pelts,
Then later grain, iron ore,

All these products
Moving through this area

All these products
Moving through this area

Dating from really, you know,

Very early in the history
Of north america.

Narrator: the great lakes
Connect the midwest

With the atlantic ocean.

They are the largest group
Of freshwater lakes on earth

By total area

And are more like inland seas
According to chris west,

Who has sailed these waters
For most of his life.

West:
You think of lake michigan,

West:
You think of lake michigan,

We can't see the other side.

You can travel from chicago,
Which is the southernmost point,

To the upper peninsula
Of michigan,

And that's about
400 or 500 miles long,

So it's a very big area
Of water.

*

Narrator:
However, it narrows dramatically

At the straits of mackinac,
A major shipping lane

Which connects
Lake michigan to lake huron.

But it is just 3 1/2 miles wide
And whipsawed by currents,

But it is just 3 1/2 miles wide
And whipsawed by currents,

Which were often fatal.

*

Meigs: if you're on a ship
In the ocean,

And a storm comes up and blows
You a few miles off course,

You've got thousands of miles
Of ocean around you,

But if that happens
In lake michigan,

It's relatively narrow.

There's all these shallows.

You could be on the rocks
In just a few minutes.

West:
In the straits of mackinac,
There's over 80 shipwrecks.

This was the most
Dangerous spot.

They were coming up
From chicago,

They were coming up
From chicago,

And they were making the corner

To go into
The straits of mackinac,

And there was this spot
That there was 4 feet of water,

So the ships just kept
Running aground.

*

Narrator: the u.S. Government
Decided it had to intervene

And put a stop
To these tragic accidents.

They built
The waugoshance lighthouse.

But how do you go about
Building a structure

As impressive as this in the
Middle of such a massive lake?

As impressive as this in the
Middle of such a massive lake?

*

Meigs: you start with
A wooden crib structure

That rests on the bottom,

And then you bring out rocks
On barges,

And you fill this crib
With rocks.

Now you have a stable structure
That you can build on top of.

West: it's a feat today
To build something like that,

And obviously, back in the day,
No power tools.

It was nails and, you know,
Big hammers and pulleys,

It was nails and, you know,
Big hammers and pulleys,

And so it was
Very labor intensive

To do something like that.

Narrator:
Finally, the lighthouse
Began operating in 1851.

West: it was a lifeline
To all of the maritime traffic.

This gave them the road map

Of how to get through
The straits of mackinac,

So it was hugely important
For the area.

*

Narrator:
Its light, looked after by
A keeper and his assistant,

Was visible for miles around.

Was visible for miles around.

*

Meigs: the lighthouse keeper's
Job was both incredibly boring

And incredibly important
At the same time.

You had to keep
That light working.

You had to keep it going.

West:
It was a pretty remote life.

The light keepers would go out
When the ice went out,

Which april-ish.

They would be out there
Until november,

And so they're there
For essentially seven months

And so they're there
For essentially seven months

By themselves,
Not seeing another human.

Narrator: light was generated
By an oil-burning lamp,

Which required constant
Attention and refueling.

When the light was no longer
Visible through the mist,

They used a foghorn
To warn ships.

It was powered by steam,

And it worked by emitting
A low frequency

Through two huge metal pipes.

[ fog horn blows ]

[ fog horn blows ]

West:
These are the stove pipes.

They were for the fog signal
For the lighthouse.

They were in the fog-signal
Building.

You can still see the holes
In the ceiling

Of the fog-signal building
Where these went through.

So, down these steps brings you
Into the basement

Of the living quarters,

And so down here,
There would've been boilers

And there would've been supplies
For the lighthouse keepers.

Then first floor would've been,
You know, living room,

A kitchen, then you go up
To the top floors,

A kitchen, then you go up
To the top floors,

And that's where the bedrooms
Of the keepers would've been.

*

Narrator: one of its keepers was
The legendary john herman.

One night, he drunkenly
Locked his assistant

Into the lantern room,

Which would have
Fatal consequences.

John had had a few,

And john decided he should
Lock the door on him.

And john decided he should
Lock the door on him.

While all this is was happening,
A storm came up.

Unfortunately, john fell off
The side of the lighthouse,

And ever since then,
He's been the notorious

John herman
Of waugoshance lighthouse.

Narrator:
The assistant managed to escape,

But john herman disappeared for
Good into the inky blackness.

Some wondered --
Was the lighthouse abandoned

Because it was haunted
By his ghost?

Meigs: as shipping through
The great lakes

Meigs: as shipping through
The great lakes

Began to become even heavier,
And the boats got bigger,

And they required
A deeper draft,

They rode lower in the water,

That channel was
No longer adequate.

There was another channel
Farther out into the lake

That was much deeper,

So they built another lighthouse
To mark that channel,

And the waugoshance lighthouse
Became kind of obsolete.

Narrator: in 1912, the keepers
Left the lighthouse for good.

Narrator: in 1912, the keepers
Left the lighthouse for good.

*

But it wasn't
The end of the story.

It played a key part

In the development
Of a top-secret super weapon.

*

Narrator: for 30 years,
Waugoshance lighthouse

In the middle
Of lake michigan rotted away

Until the second world war,

When it took on
A completely unexpected role.

Nusbacher:
The u.S. Navy starts to develop

A remotely piloted aircraft,
A drone,

That can drop bombs
And sink japanese warships.

That can drop bombs
And sink japanese warships.

These early drones were piloted
From another aircraft,

And the operators
Were able to steer them

Using radio control looking
Through early television cameras

To see what that drone can see.

Narrator:
This development program

Was a top-secret project
Called stag-1.

Meigs: they needed to practice.
Guess what they picked.

Meigs: they needed to practice.
Guess what they picked.

Our little lighthouse
Sitting out there.

You know, it no longer
Was needed as a lighthouse,

But it made a fantastic target.

They bombed the hell out of it.

*

This is one of the remnants
Of the bombing run.

You can see the amount of impact
That it had

Because this is
1/4-inch-thick boiler plate,

And then you have
About 2 1/2, 3 feet of brick.

Used to come out to here,
Come out to where

Used to come out to here,
Come out to where

The boiler plate is, right here,

So when the bomb hit,
Pretty intense impact for it

To be able to take 2 1/2 feet
Or 3 feet of brick

And just kind of blow it
Out of there.

Narrator: once the war ended,

The lighthouse
Served no other function

And was abandoned for good.

*

Today, it's home only
To the ghost of john harmon,

Although there are plans
To restore it.

Although there are plans
To restore it.

Meigs: so, here's this
Lighthouse that stood there,

Protecting the ships for so long
And then performed

This important service
During world war ii,

And let's not let it
Just crumble into the lake.

*

Narrator: in the extreme
Northwest of chile

Close to the border with peru

Is an apocalyptic creation
Of buildings

And other strange objects.

And other strange objects.

*

Meigs: it looks almost like
Some kind of film set

For an old western movie.

Everything is somewhat decayed.

Everything is rusty,
But it's still standing,

And in other ways,
It seems very much untouched.

*

Selwood:
There's something unnerving

About the row after row
Of houses.

*

Bell: what's really strange
Is where the town is located.

Bell: what's really strange
Is where the town is located.

It's in the middle of the desert
Miles away from anywhere.

Why on earth would anyone choose
To build a town

In such a remote location?

*

Narrator: there is a swimming
Pool, long empty of water,

A diving board
Which will never be used again,

And a ghostly playground

That no longer hears
Children's laughter.

That no longer hears
Children's laughter.

Meigs:
Anytime you see a place that
Had been inhabited by humans

And then it looks
As if they suddenly left,

It gives you
An unsettled feeling.

It gives you a sense of dread.

Maybe something terrible
Happened here.

*

Narrator:
Once you go beyond the houses,
The buildings suddenly change.

*

You see sort of rusted
Bits of machinery.

You see sort of rusted
Bits of machinery.

There's clearly an engineering
Type of feel to it.

Bell: there's a rusted
Locomotive and tracks

That lead to what looks like
An old factory.

Whatever happened here
Was clearly an extensive

And complex industrial
Operation, but what was it?

Narrator:
What's even more confusing

Is that most of the machinery

Is made by
British manufacturers.

Is made by
British manufacturers.

So, what was its function,

And how has it ended up
In such a remote part of chile?

What you're seeing is
The global economy

Dropped down here
Into this remote desert.

Why is it all here?

*

Narrator: the clues lie in
The rapidly expanding population

In the industrial world towards
The end of the 19th century

In the industrial world towards
The end of the 19th century

And the need to feed
All these extra people.

*

Meigs: for thousands of years,
Farmers grew their crops

Using whatever
Nutrients were on hand --

The manure from animals
Was collected,

And that was good enough
For a time,

But in the 19th century,
They started to discover

That you could add
Additional chemicals to the soil

And make your farms
Dramatically more productive.

And make your farms
Dramatically more productive.

*

Large deposits of a mineral
Were discovered here

In the atacama desert

That would revolutionize
Food production

And transform
The fortunes of chile.

But what was it?

Meigs:
This part of the atacama desert

Is rich in a mineral
That then was called saltpeter.

Saltpeter is a name
For various forms of nitrate,

And this is a chemical
That essentially can work

And this is a chemical
That essentially can work

As fertilizer
Once you break it down.

Jerram: and there's
Very few places on the planet

Where you can actually
Find this material,

This particular type of mineral,
In effect,

Just lying on the ground, very,
Very easy to excavate and mine.

Narrator: saltpeter,
Then known as white gold,

Was chile's gold rush.

It accounted
For 80% of chile's exports.

The country couldn't survive
Without it.

The country couldn't survive
Without it.

Jerram: at the time, the
Northern part of chile

And southern part of peru

Were actually the main
Provider of saltpeter

To the whole of the world.

Small mining villages were
Springing up all over the place

To take advantage of this.

Narrator: humberstone was
One of those villages.

It was in the desolate
Atacama desert

Over 900 miles
From chile's capital, santiago,

Over 900 miles
From chile's capital, santiago,

And was the center
Of its saltpeter production,

But why does it have the very
English name of humberstone?

Meigs: james humberstone was
An englishman

Who arrived in this area
In the late 19th century

With a better way
To process the saltpeter.

Selwood: he took over the
Nitrate production facilities,

And he did it so well that
Within a couple of years,

He doubled the productivity.

*

*

Narrator: patricio diaz valencia
Is director of investigations

At humberstone
And an expert on its history.

Translator:
The people who used to work here
Came from different countries.

They were bolivian.

They were argentinean.

They were chilean.

They all came together in this
Area and created a new society.

*

Narrator:
Humberstone was a company town.

Narrator:
Humberstone was a company town.

The 3,700 men,
Women, and children

Who lived there
Owned nothing,

Not even their houses
Or furniture.

But these conditions
Were common in chile,

And violent workers'
Strikes were not unknown.

Paid in tokens
That could only be exchanged

In the general store,

How content were
Humberstone's residents?

*

Translator:
Tokens were paid according
To the effort invested.

Translator:
Tokens were paid according
To the effort invested.

There was a minimum.

For example, in order to receive
The minimum wage

So they could live,

They had to load at least
Two wagons every day.

This took approximately
12 hours each day.

*

Narrator: was the town abandoned
Because life became too hard,

Or was there
A more sinister reason?

Or was there
A more sinister reason?

*

Narrator: in chile's
Atacama desert is humberstone,

The epicenter of the country's
Vital saltpeter production.

*

Bell: digging for saltpeter
Was a grueling business.

The workers were outside all day
In the blistered sun

With little water or shade.

Meigs: they scrape up
This powdery substance

Meigs: they scrape up
This powdery substance

Off the desert floor,
Crush it, boil it,

And then they went through
A series of processes

That would separate out
The valuable parts

Of these compounds
From everything else.

Narrator: all day long, crushers
Ground the nitrate-rich crust

Of the desert
And boilers dissolved it,

Forming a toxic soup
Of chemicals,

Until they eventually
Extracted the nitrate.

*

Meigs: can you imagine what a
Brutal job this must have been

Meigs: can you imagine what a
Brutal job this must have been

Working in one of the hottest,
Driest places,

Boiling these nasty,
You know, chemicals all day?

Selwood: the chimneys would've
Been billowing black smoke,

The boilers would've been
Seeping out hot steam,

And the sheer danger of the work
Of mining was ever-present.

*

Narrator: was there
An industrial accident

Narrator: was there
An industrial accident

Or some other calamity

Which caused the town
To be abandoned?

Selwood:
Two things killed humberstone --
War and technology.

During world war I,

The british blockaded
The shipments of saltpeter

From chile going to germany,
And at the same time,

German scientists
Developed synthetic ways

Of creating fertilizer

And so had no need
To have saltpeter shipped

From the other side
Of the planet.

Narrator:
The industry collapsed,
Along with life at humberstone.

Narrator:
The industry collapsed,
Along with life at humberstone.

The houses and factories
Were abandoned,

And the people left
Or were left to die.

No one has lived or worked
Here for half a century.

*

Selwood: the town's survival is
A freak economic accident.

After the last inhabitant left,
It was sold to a developer,

But he went bust
Before he was able

To do anything with the town,

To strip out all the bits
That he was going to sell.

To strip out all the bits
That he was going to sell.

As a result, it's been preserved
By the dry desert air

And is now a united nations
World heritage site.

Jerram: you can see exactly
How these people lived.

You see, also,
How their fortunes

Were on the flick of a coin

Because once the need
For that mining left, they left,

But they left
Everything in place.

*

*

Narrator:
In southeast england,

Beneath the busy streets
Of its capital, london,

Lies a secret,
Subterranean world.

*

Jerram: there's actually
A hidden system,

A hidden system of tunnels
That you don't get to see.

They're there.

What are they,
And what were they used for?

It looks like these things
Haven't been used

It looks like these things
Haven't been used

For quite some time.

Agrawal: you've got stalactites
Hanging from the ceiling,

You've got bits of water
Flowing along the bottom,

And then there's water
Kind of dripping down

The side of the tunnel,
As well,

So it's quite
A spooky place to be.

*

Meigs: it looks like
A little hobbit railroad.

*

The track is very narrow,
Only about 2 feet across.

The ceilings are very low,

The ceilings are very low,

So it's really
Kind of mysterious.

Who made these little
Miniaturized tunnels?

Narrator:
Could these twisting tracks

Stretching into the distance
Provide a clue?

Jerram:
As you move aren't the tunnels,

You suddenly come into
Open spaces, actual stations.

So, there are stations
In these tunnel networks.

Narrator:
Away from the stations,

There are more signs
Of activity, but from long ago.

There are more signs
Of activity, but from long ago.

*

There's empty filing cabinets.

There's desks with old,
Broken telephones on them.

When you see overalls
Draped over things,

Your telephones,
Kiosks, everything,

It's almost as though this place
Was abandoned fairly quickly.

It seems like there wasn't
Enough time

To remove everything
And clear out when you left.

Meigs: if it was an area
That was more accessible,

Meigs: if it was an area
That was more accessible,

You know, scavengers
Would've come in,

People might have come in
And taken stuff,

You'd see graffiti,

But because these tunnels
Were really quite deep,

They really did not get
Picked over or stripped.

Narrator:
What was this place,

Who worked here, and why
Has it been left to molder?

*

In the early 20th century,

People communicated
Through letters,

People communicated
Through letters,

And their smooth delivery
Was critical,

Particularly in london,
The country's financial hub.

*

Meigs: so, if you have
A legal contractor,

You have a policy,
You have a negotiation,

Being able to move
Those documents

Around the city quickly
Was part of the key

To london's
Economic dominance.

Narrator: but in 1909,
It could take several hours

To deliver mail from one part
Of the city to another.

To deliver mail from one part
Of the city to another.

Something had to be done.

Agrawal: if you think about
The streets of london back then,

They were really busy.

There were horse carriages
And animals

And all sorts of things
Happening up at street level,

So to find somewhere
Where they could very quickly

And efficiently move really
Important documents around,

They had to go underground.

Narrator: and this was the
Result -- 22 miles of track

Stretching 6 miles
Across london --

Stretching 6 miles
Across london --

The mail rail.

*

At the time,
It was a revolutionary

Piece of engineering,

So why has it been abandoned
And left to decay?

*

Narrator: concealed beneath
London's teeming streets

Is the mail rail.

Its construction
Was a daunting task.

*

London is really built
On a big swamp, an estuary,

And so as a result,

When you start
Digging underground,

It's very damp, muddy,
Sandy, silty.

Jerram: and they, in fact,
Encountered one of the largest

Jerram: and they, in fact,
Encountered one of the largest

Subterranean rivers in the area
Called the fleet river,

And so water ingressing
Into the tunnels

Was a big problem
During engineering.

Narrator: ray modlesworth,
One of the last engineers here,

Is well aware of
The dangers they faced.

There were incidences when
They were digging the tunnels,

And many workers had to run
For their lives

To get away from the water
Bursting through.

Narrator: but the project was
Too important to abandon.

Narrator: but the project was
Too important to abandon.

*

Agrawal: one of the things
They did was to add air locks,

And then they pushed air
Into those sections of tunnel

To keep the water out.

They also used floodgates
In portions of the tunnel,

So if water did come in,

They could isolate
Those sections of tunnel,

Which were full of water,

And then quickly
Pump the water out.

Narrator: in 1927, the mail rail
Was finally ready for service,

Narrator: in 1927, the mail rail
Was finally ready for service,

The only one of its kind
In the world.

Meigs: these trains
Do not have drivers.

They don't have engineers,
So it's really the first

Driverless-electrical-vehicle
System in the world.

The system meant they could
Speed mail right across london,

Avoiding the congestion
On the streets above.

*

*

Narrator: 22 miles of track
Connected paddington

With white chapel station

And linked up six other
Sorting offices along the way.

A conveyor belt
Linked the tunnels

To the mainline platforms at
Liverpool street and paddington.

*

Ray remembers trying to keep
This complicated system working,

Which processed up
To 4 million letters a day.

Modlesworth: you had to work
Under a lot of time pressure

Modlesworth: you had to work
Under a lot of time pressure

Because once the trains stopped,

They would start backing away
All the way around the system,

And the whole rail network
Would grind to a halt.

*

This is battery loco number two,
Nicknamed the banana

Because of its bright
Yellow color scheme,

Which we used these locos
When the railway was shut down

To retrieve broken down trains

And do maintenance work
On the track in the weekends.

This was built in 1927.

It's still serviceable.

Sturdy base, it's built
By english electric,

Sturdy base, it's built
By english electric,

Weighs 7 1/1 tons,

And I must have jumped in
And out of that cab

About 1,000 times
During my career.

*

Narrator: while the engineers
Kept the mail rail running,

The threat of flooding
Was always present.

This is one
Of the four floodgates

Installed to seal off
The main tunnel from the station

In case there was a deadly flood

In case there was a deadly flood

And we needed
To pump the water out.

It was mechanical in operation,

So it could be relied to operate
In any circumstances.

*

Very sturdy.

*

The mail rail trundled
Beneath the streets

Of central london until 2003.

So, why is it now deserted?

Was there an industrial
Accident?

Was there an industrial
Accident?

Did the floodgates fail

And an a catastrophic
Flood engulf the tunnels?

Jerram: it was delivering mail
Around london

For some 80-odd years,
And its demise, well,

We had the internet age.

We were no longer
Sending so many letters.

There was also a much better
Infrastructure above ground,

So it really lost
Its economic importance.

*

*

Modlesworth:
On the last day of service,

I was one of the engineers
On duty that day,

And it was my job to shut down
The power at mount pleasant.

*

It was historic.

We had a job to do,
But we all know what it meant.

It was coming to the end
Of an era after 76 years.

Very sad.

*

Narrator:
Today, part of the track

Still lives on
As a tourist ride and museum.

Still lives on
As a tourist ride and museum.

I think that that's just
Fantastic to preserve

That really important legacy.

*

And the real beauty
Of the royal mail

Underground deliver system
Was that it was happening

With many people
Being completely unaware

That it was there.

We didn't really know
That letters were actually

Moving beneath our feet.