Mail by Rail

[Hans Reints]

Dit wilde ik jullie toch niet onthouden,


From 1832 to 1967, railroads large and small kept mail moving through rain, snow and gloom of night. As America grew and expanded, so did the Railway Mail Service, an elite branch of the Post Office Department that oversaw every aspect of moving mail by train. Nowhere was this more crucial than in the western states, where it could take months to receive a letter from back east. As stage lines and the pony express gave way to the railroads, mail service became an important part of every passenger train. At the dawn of the 20th century, railroads began offering faster and finer trains, aimed at affluent travelers. Their fast schedules and limited stops made them an ideal way to speed mail, and a Railway Post Office (RPO) became a fixture of each consist. This continued into the streamline era, and from the beginning, Santa Fe's premiere Super Chief and El Capitan included a Railway Post Office car.
Owing to the volume of mail received, sorted and distributed between Chicago and Los Angeles, the Post Office assigned the biggest RPOs to the route, equipped with a 60' mail compartment. Since the full interior was only used for sorting mail, these were known as “full RPOs.”
Despite increasing competition from air and highway, in 1954 Santa Fe took delivery of 10 brand-new full RPOs from Budd. Built of gleaming stainless steel, cars #89-98 allowed the railroad to create a pool of RPOs especially for its streamliners, instead of assigning specific cars to each.
While the Super Chief carried an RPO in both directions, after 1956 the new Hi-Level El Capitan only handled an RPO on its eastbound trip (since most of the population and industry were still in the east, more mail moved eastward) and only for part of its run. A car was picked up at La Junta, Colorado, and forwarded to Kansas City. This was switched out and a new RPO added for the final leg of the trip to Chicago.
Not all of the mail carried on these important runs had to be sorted en route, so both trains routinely carried at least one baggage car in storage mail service. This was actually mail traveling in locked pouches for a single destination and bulk mail such as magazines, which would all be sorted for local delivery after arrival.
With the loss of railway mail contracts in 1967, Santa Fe sidelined all of the 89-class RPOs in 1968. Most were sold to Mexico, and worked there for several more years. 
For modelers who want to make their train as authentic as possible, Walthers new El Capitan includes a 63' Railway Post Office (#932-9730). Based on cars #89-98, built by Budd as Job #9607-135, the models feature a real metal finish to simulate the prototypes' stainless steel construction, clear “glass” (tinted glass was reserved for passengers) factory installed grab irons and much more. Matching 73' Baggage Cars (#932-9740) are also available separately to handle bulk mail too

bron:Walthers