Mail Train Consists

Does anyone have a general idea of what cars would be on a PRR Mail train out of Chicago in the late 1950's to mid 1960's?

Hi,

Depends on how far the train was going, and how much mail it had to carry, and whether the mail was to be sorted enroute.

Generally, you would have essentially baggage cars, carrying the sacks of mail. If you sorted and picked up / delivered the mail, you would have a formal mail car with a hook to catch the mail bag, a sliding door to toss out the appropriate bags for that station, and sorting / bagging stations for the mail people. Depending on quantity you could have a fairly short train, or a rather long train, ten cars or more.

Add a "rider coach" (you take your chances with whatever the Yardmaster wants to give you) or passenger equipped caboose for the crew.

Thanks! I've seen a couple photos of PRR mail trains dated around my time frame. So far I've seen plenty of PRR X29's, PRR RPO's and Baggage cars as well as some CB&Q equipment. What other roads cars might be on one of these trains?

I've got some PRR passenger train consist books, official from the railroad. Give me a specific train and I'll tell you the consist.

In reading the consists for mail, baggage and express trains the consists were blocked depending on the car and its destination. Several of the trains were assigned passenger equiped cabin cars.

Well, lets start with the "Fort Pitt", since I'm modeling the PRR headed towards Chicago that train would seem to be appropriate.

PRRGuy wrote:Well, lets start with the "Fort Pitt", since I'm modeling the PRR headed towards Chicago that train would seem to be appropriate.

Here ya go...The year 1952 (I was 2 at the time so this comes from a Pennsy consist book)

1 MS-60 ........................ OPEN.................................... PITTSBURGH-CHICAGO
1 BM70M........................ LETTER END EAST .....................PITTSBURGH-CHICAGO
1 EXPRESS ......................B-60 MESSENGER, GOLD STAR .......PITTSBURGH-CHICAGO
1 EXPRESS (DAILY XPT. SUN.)B-60 ..................................... NEW YORK-CHICAGO (OFF 93 AT P'BURGH)
1 B-70...................................................................... PITTSBURGH-CHICAGO
1 P-70 (COACH,SUNDAYS ONLY).........................................PITTSBURGH-CHICAGO
2 P-70KR (RECLINING SEATS)............................................PITTSBURGH-CHICAGO
1 PARLOR CAFE (8 PARLOR SEATS, 9 LOUNGE SEATS)................PITTSBURGH-CHICAGO
2 MS-60.....................................................................PITTSBURGH-CHICAGO
1 MS-60.....................................................................PROVIDENCE-CHICAGO (OFF TR.11 PITTSBURGH)
1 MS-60.....................................................................PHILADELPHIA- CHI'GO (OFF TR.11 PITTSBURGH)
1 MS-60.....................................................................PHILADELPHIA-COUNCIL BLUFFS (OFF TR 11 PITTSBURGH
...........................................................................................................TO CONNECTING TRAIN IN CH'GO)
1 MS-60 X...................................................................BALTIMORE-CHICAGO (OFF TR.51 PITTSBURGH)
1 RIDER X...................................................................PITTSBURGH-CHICAGO
1 MS-60 X...................................................................FORT WAYNE-CHICAGO

Translations:
MS-60 .........................................Mail Storage car. It's a baggage car
BM70M .........................................Baggage,and working RPO mail car
B-60 Messenger, Gold Star....................Baggage car with messenger facilities (it had a potty, and a gold star stencilled above the road number)
P-70..............................................Standard, non remodled Pennsy coach
P-70KR...........................................Standard, air conditioned, remodled Pennsy coach with "pictue" windows
PARLOR-CAFE...................................Heavyweight Pullman operated w/parlor seats, a lounge, and small dining section
MS-60 X..........................................Express box car
RIDER X..........................................Cabin(caboose) equipped with steam, and signal lines for passenger service
OPEN ............................................ Car not sealed. Pouches could be added or removed en-route
LETTER END EAST..............................Car operated with the RPO (mail) section facing east

Express box cars had steam and signal lines to operate in passenger service.

For those of you just tuning in to railroading, steam lines carried steam for heat, the signal line was for the air-actuated train crew signal to the engine cab.

The parlor-cafe went around 1956. Other than that the consist is much the same as I remember seeing in 1966. The Fort Wayne express car was gone by then.

There was a logic to the consist of all mail/baggage/express trains much the same as today in blocking cars.

That's exactly what I needed, Thanks Mitch!


Ryan

You're quite welcome. That's what the old heads are here for.

One thing I forgot to mention was that towards the end baggage cars for storage were replaced by express box cars. In fact the train was heavy with box cars, behind the coaches.

Mitch