Have a friend whose father was RPO employee. He talked about mail bags falling from shelves when the train went faster and getting hit on shoulder by them. He always carried a gun just in case anyone attempted to rob their mail car. Both of my friend's grandfathers were Frisco engineers. It seemed like the mail was messed up for a while after RPO was stopped.
I believe the issue of TRAINS you are referring to was the MAY '59 one.
DPM had it figured out before many of us did. The issue of mail subsidizing passenger service was laid out pretty well in the "Who Shot the Passenger Train" issue of TRAINS in 1958.
BaltACD dakotafred CSSHEGEWISCH A reasonable argument could be made that mail handling subsidized passenger service. Indeed, as David P. Morgan said as the train-off petitions mounted (rough paraphrase): All this time we thought we were riding passenger trains. It turns out we were riding passenger cars attached to mail trains. Surprised that it took DPM that long to figure it out.
dakotafred CSSHEGEWISCH A reasonable argument could be made that mail handling subsidized passenger service. Indeed, as David P. Morgan said as the train-off petitions mounted (rough paraphrase): All this time we thought we were riding passenger trains. It turns out we were riding passenger cars attached to mail trains.
CSSHEGEWISCH A reasonable argument could be made that mail handling subsidized passenger service.
A reasonable argument could be made that mail handling subsidized passenger service.
Indeed, as David P. Morgan said as the train-off petitions mounted (rough paraphrase): All this time we thought we were riding passenger trains. It turns out we were riding passenger cars attached to mail trains.
Surprised that it took DPM that long to figure it out.
Indeed, it's surprising how little attention the headend business -- and its importance to the passenger operation -- has received generally.
For instance, in his otherwise-exhaustive history of the Nickel Plate Road, in his hundreds of pages, John Rehor had barely a word to say about mail and express, which was obviously the main support of NKP's passenger service between Buffalo and Chicago.
Ditto with Kevin Holland's more-recent (1997) NKP PASSENGER SERVICE: THE POSTWAR YEARS, whose whole focus is on that last-days service but with nothing about headend except the mute testimony of photos.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
ROBERT WILLISON What was the disposition of the car? Donated or more likely scrapped?
What was the disposition of the car? Donated or more likely scrapped?
There were four involved in the last runs, of which IIRC one was taken off early (southbound at Baltimore?). So far I've been able to find -- I think -- that at least one survived up to 2000 in Amtrak MOW service. I'm looking forward to find that at least one still exists.
CSSHEGEWISCH . A reasonably argument could be made that mail handling subsidized passenger service.
. A reasonably argument could be made that mail handling subsidized passenger service.
Overmod Did any Amtrak move any mail the first 1-2 years? ROBERT WILLISON Was the Penn Central the last railroad with a mail contract for a RPO? Conrail. Last RPO service in the Corridor, IIRC, June 30th, 1977, with GG1 4935 doing the honors southbound. Be advised that the last runs featured at least one RPO in fresh Penn Central paint. That might confuse anybody! Here is a link (in .doc format) that covers this. Picture of one of the RPOs a year later:
Did any Amtrak move any mail the first 1-2 years?
ROBERT WILLISON Was the Penn Central the last railroad with a mail contract for a RPO?
Was the Penn Central the last railroad with a mail contract for a RPO?
Conrail. Last RPO service in the Corridor, IIRC, June 30th, 1977, with GG1 4935 doing the honors southbound.
Be advised that the last runs featured at least one RPO in fresh Penn Central paint. That might confuse anybody!
Here is a link
(in .doc format) that covers this.
Picture of one of the RPOs a year later:
Our friends at IRM have a RPO day to honor former clerks. They also demonstrate a pickup using their mail crane and one of the RPOs in the collection.
I remember signs in the parking lots of stations along the Mainline of MidAmerica to the effect that there where mail sacks being discharged from high speed trains. Be on the alert.
I would hope that the previous post meant American rail passenger service. At any rate, mobile post offices (RPO's and HYPO's) were becoming obsolete with increased mechanization of mail sorting. The Post Office recognized this and accelerated the discontinuance of RPO contracts beginning in 1967. Closed-pouch mail contracts continued, but they didn't pay as much as the RPO contracts and mail income on passenger service ledgers shrank dramatically. A reasonably argument could be made that mail handling subsidized passenger service.
As a kid I can remember seeing them zip by at speed getting the mail. I read in 1968 when the atsf lost the majority of thier mail contracts it was close to 35 million a year. It was the beginning of the end for american rail service.
About 15 years ago, I knew an old fellow (105 yrs.) who had sorted mail for something like 50 years on Maine railroads. He had memorized 500 towns (pre zip code) and always had the mail sorted when they arrived in Portland from Bangor..there is a beautiful mail car on Route 1 somewhere near Winterport, Maine which looks in mint operating condition.
Was the Penn central the last railroad with a mail contract for a rpo ?
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