GPO West - p446

[Carvill John]

A great, thought-provoking episode, and I got intrigued by the 'GPO West' 
description, the communication theme, and all those vacuum tubes. Been 
trying to put a wiki entry together on all this, but still not sure why he 
calls it GPO *West*, I can't seem to find a reference to that anywhere. 
Apparently the GPO (General Post Office) building in the area described 
(Angel Street, St. Martin's Le Grand) is no longer there, though there's 
some sort of square called 'Postman's Park':

http://www.urban75.org/london/postman.html

Found some quite good info on the vacuum tubes here:

http://www.capsu.org/history/telegram_conveyors.html#contents

Noticed that the tubes were made of gutta-percha rubber, which material was 
aslo used in the 'time machine' 2 Chums have a vision in, which is another 
example of Pynchon using an obscure, or unusual word, more than once (think 
there's a thread on that somewhere?), eg. absquatulate, elfin, etc. and 
whether this is a mistake (and if so does that qualify as 'sloppy') or 
deliberate, and if deliberate to what end? Establishing a connection or 
pattern?

Anyway, some pretty interesting stuff here:

"The new Post Office buildings, erected from the designs of Mr. James 
Williams, of H.M. Office of Works and Public Buildings, were opened early in 
1874. The building is rectangular, having frontages of 286 feet to St. 
Martin's-le-Grand and Bath Street, and frontages of 144 feet to Newgate 
Street and Angel Street, and is 84 feet in height from the paving line. It 
stands on a base of granite from the De Lank quarries, and the whole of the 
fronts have been executed in Portland stone of the hardest "Whitbed." The 
building is four stories in height, exclusive of the basement, and the 
floors are thus appropriated:—The basement is partly occupied as 
office-rooms, partly for stores, and partly by the department of the 
telegraph engineers, the large room in the centre being used as a 
batteryroom. The ground floor is appropriated to the Postmaster-General and 
the Accountant-General. On the first floor are accommodated the secretaries 
and their staff; the third and fourth floors being appropriated to the 
telegraph department. The fourth floor is especially devoted to the 
telegraph instruments, and the pneumatic tubes are laid on to it, 
establishing communication with the district offices. The large 
instrument-room is 125 feet by 80 feet The central hall is intended for the 
staff of the Accountant-General. In the north court there are placed four 
steam-engines, each of 50horse power, for working the pneumatic tubes. An 
Artesian well is also proposed for the supply of the large quantity of water 
required, and a small engine will be kept at work at pumping to the large 
tanks (two of 6,000 gallons each) at the top of the building. It is 
calculated that about three-quarters of a mile of instrument-tables will be 
required in the telegraph galleries.

From: 'Aldersgate Street and St Martin-le-Grand', Old and New London: Volume 
2 (1878), pp. 208-28."

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=45092

Anyone any guesses on that 'West'?

Cheers
JC

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