After looking over some of the layouts and scenery....I noticed something is missing. Back when I was a kid in the 20s and 30s, my grandmother ran a large boarding house in Tulsa. Most of her boarders were railroad men who worked for Frisco. We had Firemen, Brakemen, Engineers and Conductors. One of our boarders was an engineer from Rolla, Missouri named Carl Bradford. Brad for short. When school was out during the summer, I would ride with Brad up in the cab of his engine. I was in hog heaven. Brad handled mostly freights but once in awhile he would fill in on a passenger run. In those days, most of the U.S. Mail went by train, and all of the consists had a U.S. Post Office Car. One of our next door neighbors, Jerry Barton worked for the post office in the mail cars. At home, he had a large box built into his wall of one room and it was nothing but pigeon holes. He would practice sorting 'mail' into those things for hours. He told me it was to build up his speed because the mail had to be ready for drop off at the towns they went thru. The thing that I notice missing was the pole and arm that was mounted just off the station platform that held the mail sacks. On some runs, the train did not stop at the town so all the mail was snatched by a arm and hook as the train went thru. I just wondered if anyone had seen scale models of these things or if they are even available. BTW, I'm still just an 84 year old kid at heart
Jesse
Jesse,
Funny you should mention that... I think it was in Finescale Railroader magazine four or five years ago but there was a diorama with this scene that had been modelled and the mail sack pole was a featured item! I believe the scale was either Fn3(1:20.3) or On3. You're right though, it is a detail that is often missing when we model stations!
I believe that Tichy Train Group has the mail sack pole. I'm not 84,b ut my memory is the outgoing mail was picked up by the RPO on the fly and the incoming mail was tossed onto the station platform.
Gene
100% Correct Gene. I guess the only thing they didn't throw off the train were the milk cans.
Jesse
Hi,
Go to www.rrtrains.com, google 'mail':
Precision Scale p/n 585-33193
Sequoia Scale p/n 135-2031, 2032
Cal Scales p/n 190-345
Durango Press p/n 254-70
Creative Model Assoc. p/n 363-1001
Selly Finishing Touches p/n 675-641
all are different styles.
bob
Incoming mail tossed out to the platform - pity anyne about sweeping the platform!
I think it is more likely the bag swung out on an arm and was grabbed by the trackside equipment into a net, OR where such devices exclusive to the UK's Traveling PO.
The postal staff would count the clikety-clack of the rail joints from a known point to know when to put the arm out so they didn't take down anything else along side of the track.
Hornby do a TPO set with lineside gear.
Milk churns(cans) were a big traffic from local country stations in the UK until the mid-1950's. The GWR had special vehicles with the telegraphic code of "Syphon".
Photo of UK lineside equipment, re-built on preserved line.
(http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r188/seasaltchap/tpo.jpg)
Sorry, this board makes a mess, into block graphics.
Hornby or Triang in the late 50s/early 60s produced a set which modelled the London Midland (Midland Region) mail cars with pick up/drop off facilities and the matching lineside gear.
On the other hand, I have never seen models of automatic single-line equipment.
Stewart, how about trying that image again. The problem with your image has nothing to do with this board. It looks exactly the same if you download it directly from photo bucket. You can check it at its URL:
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r188/seasaltchap/tpo.jpg (http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r188/seasaltchap/tpo.jpg)
I have never heard of using a net for catching mail in North America, but that is not to say it never happened. But I would be willing to bet that platform sweepers never got hit by flying mail bags twice.
Jim : I agree, it looks ok in Photobucket, but twixt Photobucket and this site it converts to block graphics.
I think this site stores its own copy of pictures, because I have deleted on Photobucket, and the picture persists on this site.
Regards
PS
The UK TPO's also collected bags from trackside equipment into nets that swung in and out from the carriage.
Google gives plenty of entries "Travelling Post Office"
The 2006 special issue of "How To Build Realistic Layouts" has a picture on page 21 of a guy that made an operating mail pickup system. His RPO car has a magnet in the door and as it runs by the sack pole, a small metal extension of the RPO reaches out and grabs the mail sack (which is made from metal) and it is captured by the magnet. Really cool looking operation. I wish I knew how to post a link to show the picture.
Stewart, you might want to go back and reread my earlier posting. I did NOT say it looked fine on photobucket. I told you that the photo at the url you used looked exactly like what showed up on Bach-Man's Board. Go up a couple of posts, click on it, and see. It is still there at this time, and no, it is not just in my cache. I checked it on my spare computer and on my wife's computer, neither one of which has seen that image before. And it STILL looks like it does above. Did you possibly link to a tiny thumbnail or something?
Jim, I am confused. I posted to Photobucket, and it appeared o'k there under my personal viewing; however when the IMG feature was used on this board for the transfer, it comes out in block graphics.
As "gardenrail" notes, UK Hornby have a working TPO set, not only in LMS, but also GWR livery.
The last run of the UK TPO trains was only recent, 1/19/2001. They originally started in the UK in the 1880's
Regards
Stewart,
I get the same results as Jim does even going directly to the URL (NOT
thru this forum).
Looks the same either way; that is, block coloring.
Dick
If anyone wants better quality shots, I will send direct to your e-mail for you.
I am: seasaltchap@hotmail.com
Stewart
Hello 'Seasaltchap'
Surprised that you haven't mentioned the wonderful GWR slip coach system. I reckon that with DCC there is a good chance of this being modelled. There's a challenge for you. :D
gardenrail: To get into the GWR Slip Coaches is a whole new ball of wax., however taking DCC to it I think is overkill as a solution, when it is about uncoupling.
Jim: I am not able to get back to my lineside picture of the TPO Apparatus, but I have sent some links to Jim he may wish to publish.
The last run of the UK TPO was 1/19/2004, and not 2001. The original service between Liverpool & Birmingham started 1838, where the UK 'Penny Post" of 1840 greatly expanded mail services by rail in the UK.
Regards
Jim : There was also lineside and loco apparatus for collecting and depositing Tokens required to work single lines.
What is the experience in the US?
I think I'll let someone who lives in the US answer that.
There are still a few places that get mail and packages from the train. While I was on the Skunk train in Northern California they dropped off stuff at some of the remote houses along that line. This is now only a tourist line and the houses are very remote. I was surprised that they did this.
Bodie Bailey
Anyone interested in a Hornby Travelling Post Office, one has just come up on eBay. It comes complete with mailbags, but you need to check for the lineside equipment
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230100783237 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230100783237)
Re: Dropping off the mail--the bags were usually just kicked out the door of the RPO while the train was rolling. The bags were usually strapped shut, and sometimes padlocked, so the mail wouldn't be flying all over.
As a boy in New Jersey,I remember the mail sacks actually being tossed out by hand onto the station platform. It was at the same hour everyday,so any personel sweeping the platform knew enough not to be there at that hour.