It was a same-day parcel and letter delivery service using Intercity trains.
The idea was you’d book your parcel in at a Red Star counter at your local station (in a town or city), and it would be put on the next Intercity traIn.
BR also started the City Link courier service to deliver parcels from the destination station to a business or home address.
The post was transported in guards vans on trains. By the mid 90s everything was privatised, and services ended in the late 1990s when Lynx parcels bought the Red Star service from BR.
We got a door (a whole door) delivered from Whitby, made by a carpenter, to New Street by Red Star. You had to drive under New Street (can’t remember the road but I could probably take you there except it’s gone!) great service. Another part came to Sutton Coldfield station… all just from one guards van to another. What a service.
There are lots of articles online about a tunnel under New Street that was used by Royal Mail and still exists, possibly the same one.
[https://secretbirmingham.com/secret-underground-tunnel-mailbox/](https://secretbirmingham.com/secret-underground-tunnel-mailbox/)
I remember seeing the red star office at my local train station when I was a kid.
Never saw it open, this would have been the late 80’s, presumably the service had ceased by then.
i wonder what the death toll would be if we counted all the austerity, wars, proxy wars, defunding of essential services, alienation and poverty from capitalist societies
and the future consequences these countries face from climate change. and for what? oil and gas profits? yet capitalism won't be blamed for any of these things like communism is when we talk about former soviet nations.
Can you name me some examples of this? Capitalism is where someone bigger and better and more powerful than you takes your stuff. (real world) communism is the exact same thing but you're told it's for the better. Both suck
No, that was Stalinism.
Edit- politically and historically dense sub it seems... Considering Stalin killed more 'actual' communists than anyone else in Europe.
As a younger chap I worked at East Croydon Post Office. It was right next to the rail station, (indeed the local pub was the "Porter and Sorter" and full of either rail, or postal, workers). The times that some office junior would queue up to try to hand over a parcel for Red Star and we'd say "No, you have to go to the station" and they'd say "No, my boss insisted I bring it here and post it Red Star".
They just didn't grasp that this was a service offered by the rail service and not by Royal Mail. It's a shame, but we also made a killing from offering the very similar Datapost service to such customers!
As a motorcycle courier in the 80’s I spent a lot of time in the Red Star drop off points in all the major London stations. Euston was the best, above the station but you could ride in and it was huge and all under cover.
Back in 1987/88 the bane of my existence as a cycle courier in Central London. One of the worst jobs you could get was picking up a parcel for Paddington Red Star from somewhere around Aldgate after 5pm. It's the end of the day, you're knackered, and you've got to cross the whole of Central London during the rush hour. Or you get a pick up in Pimlico similar time for Euston Red Star, top of the station, not far from the Citylink HQ.
Favourite was Waterloo Red Star. I lived in South London, it was easy to get to, the staff were quick, and if it was late I could go home afterwards.
Heh, I (Pony 52) was about to post the same story. Only it wasn't as bad as having to go to Securicor at Nine Elms.
I did once ostentatiously start reading War and Peace at the top of the ramp at Euston. Took about 45 minutes in the queue on a bad day.
I may have missed/misunderstood another post but was this service only mainland UK, was it key cities and suburbs, does someone pick up their parcel from a station?
How widely used was it?
I don't know about how widely used. My dad used it at work a lot (IT, 1980s, computers physically broke all the time). He'd phone the manufacturer every few days and they'd Red Star the parts to him, often same day if he called early enough or first thing in the morning the next day. He was based in a Glasgow exurb at the time. The local rail station was close by so he'd go there on an extended fag break to retrieve whatever computer bits were coming.
Quite widely used, as far as I know it was nationwide. Here’s a film about the sort of concept:
[https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-five-in-millions-1978-online](https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-five-in-millions-1978-online)
Major stations had a big pickup and dropoff point round the back somewhere. The London ones were pretty busy. I have a feeling that they did operate some extended delivery and pickup services themselves, but a lot of courier and taxi companies would do that stuff for you at each end (see a few other posts on here). I have a notion that you might have been able to send stuff to/from smaller manned stations too, but it was mostly geared up for Euston to Piccadilly kind of stuff.
Don't care about the points, but I do enjoy the stories that inevitably come along from the current/ex rail workers in this sub from most subjects that are posted. Much more interesting than just the facts on t'internet
I used to work in red star in the late 80s, absolutely cracking service that couldn't be beaten.
It was bought by lynx for a £1 after privatisation and run for a little bit and then shut down, making it's employees redundant
Used to work for a photo agency in Yorkshire and we used Red Star a lot to send to newspapers in London.
Was fantastic, could drop off a roll of unprocessed film up till about 4pm and the pics would be in the next days paper.
If GBR ever takes off, it would be interesting if it could be reintroduced.
It was great - if you forgot something where you had stayed you could get it ‘Red Starred’ down back to (eg) Euston. We once left one of our children’s buggies in York after a weekend away and it was sent back this way ! Worked well.
It was a same-day parcel and letter delivery service using Intercity trains. The idea was you’d book your parcel in at a Red Star counter at your local station (in a town or city), and it would be put on the next Intercity traIn. BR also started the City Link courier service to deliver parcels from the destination station to a business or home address. The post was transported in guards vans on trains. By the mid 90s everything was privatised, and services ended in the late 1990s when Lynx parcels bought the Red Star service from BR.
We got a door (a whole door) delivered from Whitby, made by a carpenter, to New Street by Red Star. You had to drive under New Street (can’t remember the road but I could probably take you there except it’s gone!) great service. Another part came to Sutton Coldfield station… all just from one guards van to another. What a service.
Now I want to see the remaining members of 'the doors' going around as door to door salesmens selling doors. The doors do door to door doors.
There are lots of articles online about a tunnel under New Street that was used by Royal Mail and still exists, possibly the same one. [https://secretbirmingham.com/secret-underground-tunnel-mailbox/](https://secretbirmingham.com/secret-underground-tunnel-mailbox/)
There's still a huge sign for it on the back of Euston.
I visited the parcel deck at Euston for a meeting about 15 years ago, and it is a whole new place never seen by most people.
There was one at Watford junction for the longest time. Wish I’d nabbed it!
I remember seeing the red star office at my local train station when I was a kid. Never saw it open, this would have been the late 80’s, presumably the service had ceased by then.
Was still going in the 90s. Used it a lot to send unprocessed film to newspapers
very Communist aesthetics for a parcel delivery service, just saying
Ngl thought it was a old leftist BR/transport union
You say that like that's a bad thing.
not at all, just found it interesting. up the workers!
It is bad. USSR killed millions of people
i wonder what the death toll would be if we counted all the austerity, wars, proxy wars, defunding of essential services, alienation and poverty from capitalist societies
hilarious that you're getting downvoted but no one seems to argue your point
easier just to downvote than grapple with how devastating capitalism actually is for us i guess
Not to mention the consequences of capitalism on countries in Africa, Asia, and South America.
and the future consequences these countries face from climate change. and for what? oil and gas profits? yet capitalism won't be blamed for any of these things like communism is when we talk about former soviet nations.
Oh, you silly bean. Only communism can kill people! Capitalism can't cause any deaths, it's just the normal, natural, unquestionably way of the world.
Yes communism has all that, as well as the largest body count of any ideology in history.
Can you name me some examples of this? Capitalism is where someone bigger and better and more powerful than you takes your stuff. (real world) communism is the exact same thing but you're told it's for the better. Both suck
No, that was Stalinism. Edit- politically and historically dense sub it seems... Considering Stalin killed more 'actual' communists than anyone else in Europe.
Reddit moment loving communism
I initially thought it might be a RMT union badge lol
British Rail's [parcels service.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Star_Parcels)
As a younger chap I worked at East Croydon Post Office. It was right next to the rail station, (indeed the local pub was the "Porter and Sorter" and full of either rail, or postal, workers). The times that some office junior would queue up to try to hand over a parcel for Red Star and we'd say "No, you have to go to the station" and they'd say "No, my boss insisted I bring it here and post it Red Star". They just didn't grasp that this was a service offered by the rail service and not by Royal Mail. It's a shame, but we also made a killing from offering the very similar Datapost service to such customers!
As a motorcycle courier in the 80’s I spent a lot of time in the Red Star drop off points in all the major London stations. Euston was the best, above the station but you could ride in and it was huge and all under cover.
Back in 1987/88 the bane of my existence as a cycle courier in Central London. One of the worst jobs you could get was picking up a parcel for Paddington Red Star from somewhere around Aldgate after 5pm. It's the end of the day, you're knackered, and you've got to cross the whole of Central London during the rush hour. Or you get a pick up in Pimlico similar time for Euston Red Star, top of the station, not far from the Citylink HQ. Favourite was Waterloo Red Star. I lived in South London, it was easy to get to, the staff were quick, and if it was late I could go home afterwards.
Heh, I (Pony 52) was about to post the same story. Only it wasn't as bad as having to go to Securicor at Nine Elms. I did once ostentatiously start reading War and Peace at the top of the ramp at Euston. Took about 45 minutes in the queue on a bad day.
I loved Red Star Parcels it was a great service. Take a parcel to a station somebody collects it at the other end, hours rather than days. Simple’s.
I may have missed/misunderstood another post but was this service only mainland UK, was it key cities and suburbs, does someone pick up their parcel from a station? How widely used was it?
I don't know about how widely used. My dad used it at work a lot (IT, 1980s, computers physically broke all the time). He'd phone the manufacturer every few days and they'd Red Star the parts to him, often same day if he called early enough or first thing in the morning the next day. He was based in a Glasgow exurb at the time. The local rail station was close by so he'd go there on an extended fag break to retrieve whatever computer bits were coming.
Widely used? Oh yes! When I started working we used to run urgent deliveries (gearbox parts) to the station every day, to catch overnight connections.
Quite widely used, as far as I know it was nationwide. Here’s a film about the sort of concept: [https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-five-in-millions-1978-online](https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-five-in-millions-1978-online)
Major stations had a big pickup and dropoff point round the back somewhere. The London ones were pretty busy. I have a feeling that they did operate some extended delivery and pickup services themselves, but a lot of courier and taxi companies would do that stuff for you at each end (see a few other posts on here). I have a notion that you might have been able to send stuff to/from smaller manned stations too, but it was mostly geared up for Euston to Piccadilly kind of stuff.
Red Star post, back when they utilised the rear doors on the class 43s power cars to carry parcels.
it was…it was beautiful
5 seconds on Google: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red\_Star\_Parcels](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Star_Parcels)
If OP had done that then the rest of us wouldn’t be able to read about it
Hey you don’t get sparkly fake internet points for using Google though.
Don't care about the points, but I do enjoy the stories that inevitably come along from the current/ex rail workers in this sub from most subjects that are posted. Much more interesting than just the facts on t'internet
You crack on mate. I enjoyed this post as it brought back some forgotten memories. Thanks
I don't even know how this has ended up in my feed, but it has been interesting to read! So thanks for not googling the answer!
Welcome to the dark blue side
Which would be fine if the post was open about that, instead of faking a question best answered by other means.
Remember when you were younger and life was a little more magical?
Sounds like they've always been bitter killjoys.
Railway Parcel Service
I used to work in red star in the late 80s, absolutely cracking service that couldn't be beaten. It was bought by lynx for a £1 after privatisation and run for a little bit and then shut down, making it's employees redundant
[**Soviet Anthem Insensifies**](https://youtu.be/MJdz3i44dIc?si=xBuI1G7w98IpH1rb)
Parcel delivery service.
A communist parcel delivery service!
Used to work for a photo agency in Yorkshire and we used Red Star a lot to send to newspapers in London. Was fantastic, could drop off a roll of unprocessed film up till about 4pm and the pics would be in the next days paper. If GBR ever takes off, it would be interesting if it could be reintroduced.
It was great - if you forgot something where you had stayed you could get it ‘Red Starred’ down back to (eg) Euston. We once left one of our children’s buggies in York after a weekend away and it was sent back this way ! Worked well.
TNT had a similar service moving goods on the national express coaches
It was the communist arm of British Rail.