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Mail By Rail Gala at Great Central Railway
Posted on 30/07/07
P. Klein
Last weekend (28th & 29th July 2007) saw the Great Central Railway, based in Loughborough, stage a Mail By Rail Gala.
In the UK, the Railway Mail Service revolutionised the way mail was processed by actually sorting the mail on moving trains. These became known as Railway Post Offices (RPOs) and from 1928 Travelling Post Offices (TPOs).
In order to prevent delays in the slowing for and stopping at stations a system whereby leather sacks of mail weighing between 20lbs and 60lbs (9 " 27kg) could be exchanged with a moving train was developed. The TPO carriages were fitted with nets on the side with an opening into the carriage so that sacks of mail could be deposited on the speeding train. Likewise sacks of mail could also be dropped off the train by means of attaching it to a spring loaded arm attached to the side of the carriage which would suspend the sack 5ft above the ground and 3 ft away from the side of the carriage. Up to four of these arms could be mounted on a single carriage. Luckily safety bars were used to prevent staff from falling from the carriage and also to prevent heavy sacks of mail hitting the staff at speed.
At the Rothley carriage works there was a rare opportunity to see inside a TPO carriage where the mechanisms that exchanged the mail could be seen. Also the inside of a carriage where Post Office Staff spent most of their shift standing with legs braced between the chair and counter top sorting mail into pigeon boxes.
At Quorn they also had a TPO in action exchanging sacks of mail with the track side. GCR had also laid on an extra DMU from Loughborough to get passengers to Quorn in time to witness the event.
The in Loughborough team spent the day at the Great Central Railway at the weekend travelling from Loughborough down to Quorn, Rothley and Leicester then back to Loughborough. Pictures of their day are available in our photograph album Great Central Railway Photographs.
More information on the Great Central Railway can be found on their website.
News report by T. Robson
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