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The Mail..great picture

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  • Member since
    September 2013
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The Mail..great picture
Posted by Miningman on Monday, September 18, 2017 9:21 AM

Now that is a great picture. Thats quite the load of mail! You got to luv that truck...the driver must have had a lot of fun in the rain, cold days, winter snow, you name it. No need for windshield washer fluid!

Things have changed but really the method is much the same. Delivery trucks and containers or trailers In place of a staffed mail car. 

Lehigh Valley mail car

Workers transfer mail between a Post Office Department truck and a Lehigh Valley Railway Post Office car around 1910. The 60-foot, all-steel RPO is state of the art, unlike the ancient wooden, open-platform car to its left.
Library of Congress photo

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • From: Parma Heights Ohio
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Posted by Penny Trains on Monday, September 18, 2017 8:28 PM

So, you're saying this wouldn't pass OSHA standards?  Laugh

Trains, trains, wonderful trains.  The more you get, the more you toot!  Big Smile

  • Member since
    September 2013
  • 6,199 posts
Posted by Miningman on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 12:17 AM

Thinking with a full load like that you need some strong arms on that steering wheel to make turns. Wonder if the vehicle did ok going up inclines, uphill, that sort of thing. Also it looks like it could be a bit tipsy. 

Other than that it must have been exhilarating to get around in. 

The Lehigh Valley mail car is gorgeous..too bad we cannot see more of the one behind it, the older one with the platform ends. 

I would think there were some safety standards and concerns back then and perhaps it was the Railroads that led the way in much of that. 

Occupationl Health and Safety Standards ...probably unlikely, in it's infancy. 

The whole scene looks pretty good to me. At least there were real mail cars and the Lehigh Valley RR was prosperous.

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