Bensham Manor sketches - 5
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This is a drawing of a real curiousity from our collections. It is a pneumatic (powered by air) rail car, from an underground railway which ran between Euston station and Eversholt Street in London. It was the first experiment the Post Office made in transporting mail underground. Although the system did not get used for very long, people actually paid to ride in the cars, being pushed through the tunnels by a great draught of air!
This is a front view of a vintage Post Office truck from the 1930s. See how thin the wheels are compared to big trucks today!
This is another sketch of the pneumatic rail car. You can see the rivets around the edges, and the big wheels to run on the rails.
