Looking for mailbox ideas

[Rex in Pinetop]

Deleted

[BATMAN]

Thirty years ago when I delivered mail. There was this house where the mailbox was a steam locomotive with a gondola car behind. You would put the mail in the gondola, push the button and away went the train some two to three hundred feet along the side of his driveway right into his carport. The mechanism was a garage door track that houses the chain and carriage set up. The chain had been replaced by cable and the train was bolted to the carriage. It ran along the top of a box hedge all the way to the house with the single track just level with the top of the hedge. The owner had fabricated the train out of metal in his workshop. It was the coolest mailbox I had ever seen, made by a very wealthy retired industrialist.

Brent

[ttrigg]

Rex:  I like your idea of a "train station mail box".  On the "front end" (closest to Mr. Mailman) have a significant portion of the station as an RPO office.

Brent:  That sounded very cool. Very cool indeed!  Rex: Something along Brent's line of thought would be the talk of the town.  Maybe something along the line of a "Goose?" but with RPO markings?  I'll start with a web wide pix search tonight and post any that might have possibilities.

[Rex in Pinetop]

Deleted

[ttrigg]

Rex:  Here a some that I found.  A few are in line of what you were talking, some are just for the funny bone.

 

This guy sells a unique set of mailboxes. Artistic Mailbox Creations

http://www.artisticmailboxcreations.biz/prod01.htm

Someone's photo collection of unique mailboxes.

http://www.walksydneystreets.net/surprises_mailboxes01.htm

A prototype to emulate.

http://www.pueblorailway.org/Assets/ROSTER/GN%20Express%20Box.htm

Got a junk motorcycle?

http://www.vft.org/Sprint/000MailBoxSptint.jpg

Got an old lighthouse?

http://knobshingesandmore.com/home-decorating-blog/

A camera?

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e291/taamme/35_mm_camera_mailbox_3.jpg

The first site; (Artistic Mailbox Creations) has some that you could easily modify to fill your needs.

 SWMBO has demanded her input, and I tend to agree!  You already have the prototype on your GRR.  The TIPPLE!  Just build it bigger!

OR - your watertowertank?

[ttrigg]

Just an after thought:  Go to Home Depot grab a chunk of 6 inch black plastic sewer pipe (boiler) and a few pieces of smaller PVC (sand tower, smoke stack etc.), a chunk of thin flat steel (wheels and drive rods), a thick chunk of lexan (cab and tender sides),  and build one of these.

get the idea?

a few dimensions for sizing things up.

[ttrigg]

another thought:  take the covered bridge from the first link, put a clearstory roof, a few rather large windows, a pair of doors, and you have an engine house.

[Rex in Pinetop]

Deleted

[altterrain]

It would not be hard to duplicate something like this -

 -Brian

[altterrain]

I ran across this (dated 1935!)  -

larger image -

 

-Brian 

[fifedog]

<-----

[ttrigg]

Tom, Neat ideas! That guy in the first link has some mighty big prices. I think I could gin something up for under $10.

Brent, The idea of carrying the mail back to the house is growing on me. Right now I'm thinking "high-line logging" with a cable running from the front porch to the mailbox by the street.

Great ideas. Keep them coming. I'm keeping my chief-of-staff posted. She will most likely make the final decision.

Rex

Rex: this has been one of the most "fun" postings in a while. Yes, he does have some rather "TALL" price tags. I'm most confident in your abilities to fabricate something more economical. Brent's idea is really interesting. His concept could easily be adapted to having a hand operated "windlass" to move the "train-mail-box" to and from the roadway. It should not be too hard to adapt a rail system much like a roller coaster with primary wheels on top of the rail and "safety wheels" under the rails. I see you have learned the less well, about the three women in a man's life who are classified as "She Who Must Be Obeyed", first there is "Mom", then the "Girlfriend" and later comes the "Wife".