Santa Fe mail trains

I read that Santa Fe operated trains Numbers 7 & 8 as mail trains over the pass at Raton. Now I have this to ask...

What rolling stock were used to carry mail besides the new semi-lightweights the SF ordered from Pullman?

And what was standard power?

And did they warrent a caboose and possibily a helper over the pass?

Many railroads, Santa Fe included, have operated mail trains almost since the beginning of railroads in the U.S.

For many years, the railroads offered the fastest transport of mail between major cities and over long distances.

The name "Fast Mail" meant just what it said.

The mail trains had expedited schedules, and good, reliable locomotives. They also offered passenger service, for an extra surcharge, to passengers who wanted to get to a destination on the fastest schedule, and didn't mind no-frills accommodations.

The first mail cars were wooden cars, then steel heavyweights, and finally the lightweight cars that you are familiar with.

On most railroads, the local passenger trains relied on a large volume of mail and express transport to generate good revenues to offset the expenses of passenger service.

You may not have known, but the mail trains of yesteryear also served as the primary transportation method of transporting the packages and boxes that are transported today by FedEx, UPS, and other delivery services. Back in those days, the REA (Railway Express Agency) was the local pickup and delivery company. REA trucks met each passenger/mail train to exchange packages and boxes to/from local sources. Even before the REA, there were companies all across the US that collected and delivered express packages to /from railroad trains.

So, if your favorite Aunt Edna wanted to ship you a bunch of Christmas presents, she would contact the REA office to come by her house and pick them up, deliver them to a mail/express/passenger train for transport to the railroad depot nearest to where you lived, and then delivery by an REA truck to your home's doorstep.

For many years, the railroads also provided quick express service for small-sized shipments through a special service that was available at many of the larger railroad freight stations. Called Less-Than-Carload, or LCL service, some railroads even had specially designated freight cars assigned to this service, with one example being the New York Central. These LCL cars were either attached to the Fast Mail trains, passenger trains, or if the volumes of shipments were large enough, separate LCL express trains were operated between major cities.

ACLfan

In the early 1940s, my father was part of the Railway Mail Service, which later became the Postal Transportation Service (PTS).

I remember riding along while my Mom drove him down to the track level in Atlanta's Union Station so he could board the L&N train for Nashville. The train left in the late afternoon or early evening (I don't remember exactly), and he and other clerks rode the mail car and sorted mail all night enroute.

The locomotive was a steam giant (to me--I was about four or five years old at the time) and made lots of noise! I think I remember being invited into the cab for a short visit.

Mail was dropped at way stations by throwing the canvas mail bags off the train. Mail was picked up with a rod and hook affair--the mail bags were hung from "davits" (my term) trackside. This way, mail service was provided to small towns at which the train did not stop.

They arrived in Nashville the following morning, slept during the day, and made the return trip that next night. He did the roundtrip twice a week.

I still remember the practice boxes and cards he had in our attic to achieve and maintain proficiency. He was no longer in the Railway Mail Service by the mid-1940s.

As a great railfan and stamp collector, my father used to prize postcards or letters that had an RPO cancellation stamp.

Quite a bit of consist information is here on Steve Sandifer's Santa Fe website: http://www.trainweb.org/jssand/ There is even information on cars from other railroads running on the Mail.

I have an HO model of The Fast Mail that uses either my #3759 northern or a set of PA-1s for power.

Hi All,

What always impressed me about mail trains was their ability to pick up and deliver mail without stopping . As my HO layout grew, I made sure I had mail cars that could pick up mail on the fly etc. I was also impressed by the fact that the postal workers on the mail train, especially those sorting the mail enroute carried firearms. Didn't want to mess with them.

My father was in the Railway Mail Service (later replaced by the Postal Transportation Service) in the early 1940s. He rode the L&N twice a week from Atlanta's Union Station to Nashville and return. The engine was steam and I remember (as a very little kid, maybe three or four years old) being invited up into the cab by the engineer. Very exciting for a little one and, as I recall, the noises were somewhat scary for me at that age!

Dad and his associates boarded about dinner time. They sorted mail all night, slept in Nashville the next day, and sorted mail on the return trip the next night. Mail destined for the small towns enroute were placed in mail bags and just tossed out, as I recall. Mail from the small towns was placed in mail bags and hung from a track-side pole-mounted hook. A pivoting arm on the side of the mail car was extended to snatch the bags on the fly.

I remember that Dad had some practice sorting boxes in our attic and he would use them to maintain required proficiency. I don't remember him having a gun, but I don't know that he didn't have one. Perhaps it was kept on the mail car for use by other clerks.

One of the firearms carried by RPO personnel was the Colt .45 Artillery Model revolver. These were surplus to the military and were marked for the postal service. Today these guns bring a premium price from collectors.