Most train buffs are familiar with American railroads’ role in delivering mail using Railway Post Offices (RPOs), and parcel post and goods by the Railroad Express Agency (REA). But how many of us know that the decline of “mail by rail” spawned the little known Highway Post Office (HPOs) RPO: The precursor of the modern RPO mail sorting & distribution facility began in 1869 on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad linking Chicago with Clinton, Iowa. By 1930, more than 10,000 trains moved mail, with RPO cars usually attached right behind the steam locomotive and coal tender on passenger trains. Eventually, passenger trains began a rapid decline with the development of better roads and a national highway system. By 1965, only 190 trains still carried mail. The last RPO, operating between New York City and Washington, DC on the Penn Central/Conrail, made its final run in 1977. HPO: The abandonment of money losing passenger trains and resulting decline of “mail by rail” caused a crisis for the US Post Office, especially for under served rural areas. To compensate, the Post Office launched the Highway Postal Office (HPO) service using re-configured White Motor Company city transit buses to sort mail just like the RPOs did on the run between destinations. The first HPO run was inaugurated in early 1941 between Washington, DC and Harrisonburg, Virginia. The reason for selecting the Shenandoah Valley route was precipitated by the end of passenger/RPO service, effective 1941, by the Southern Railway on its old B&O route between Strasburg and Harrisonburg that paralleled US route 11 with its many little towns requiring mail service. Two other HPO routes were established in 1941: one between South Bend and Indianapolis; the other between San Francisco and Pacific Grove, California US entry into WW II in December 1941 forced the suspension of the HPO experiment--to be resumed in 1946-47. By 1955. there were more than 130 HPO routes. From 1960-63, HPOs replaced an average of 20 RPO trains per month. It all ended in 1974, with the last HPO runs for Cleveland and Cincinnati. HPO service was made obsolete when the US Post Office reorganized its handling and distribution with sectional mail centers and high speed machines sorting mail by zip codes. REA: Several factors led to REA’s demise, but especially the 1960s tidal wave of passenger train discontinuance. As a result, REA no longer had a nationwide rail grid and customer base, plus it faced unaccustomed competition as a former monopoly from new ground and air delivery services. MUSEUMS: There are three of interest to rail mail fans—all in our vicinity
1--In DC, the Smithsonian’s US Postal Museum displays the very first (restored) 1941 White HPO bus used on the DC-Harrisonburg, Virginia route. 2--In Roanoke, the Virginia Museum of Transpiration displays the only other surviving 1941 White HPO bus (unrestored) that sits outdoors alongside rail cars 3--In Boyce, Virginia (US Route 340), the former N&W depot houses the obscure Railway Mail Service Library with a collection of documents & artifacts relating to “mail by rail.”
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PCRCThe Page County Railroad Club has a wealth of railroad information shared between it's members. In this blog we will do our best to share that knowledge. Archives
September 2020
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