Railway Mail Car

A Railway Post Office car was a mobile post office that traveled the tracks coupled into a passenger train. The personnel on board could pick up mail... more

by Cynthia Guinn

Title

Railway Mail Car

Artist

Cynthia Guinn

Medium

Photograph

Description

A Railway Post Office car was a mobile post office that traveled the tracks coupled into a passenger train. The personnel on board could pick up mail on the fly using special apparatus at towns where the train did not stop for passengers. They then sorted the mail and delivered it on the fly at station they passed through while moving. A very efficient operation for its day. They predated the ZIP Code by many decades and would not have a ZIP Code today, if they were still in service. They never stopped moving and processing the mail as they went.
In 1838 all US railroads were designated as “post roads,” encouraging wider access for mail onto America’s burgeoning railroad lines.
The Highway Post Offices that were created to replace some railroad service ended in 1974, three years before the Railway Mail Service made its last run. That last run came on June 30, 1977, as the last RPO car rolled into Washington, DC’s Union Station from New York City.
Town of Wallace, North Carolina USA.
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Uploaded

November 18th, 2017