Penn Central Hauls The Mail

 Greetings All,

On Thursday September 13, 1973 officials from three railroads, the ATSF, PC and Southern, appeared before the House of Representatives for hearings on the transportation of mail. A link to the congressional record for this hearing is at the end of this post.

The hearing on this day focused on the revamping of the of the US Post Office and the proposals for the movement of bulk mail by rail. Reading thru the testimony many modeling tidbits can be gleaned and here are some of the highlights I can use for my layout;

In October 1968 the Penn Central inaugurated the first transcontinental priority freight mail trains using their Flexi Van equipment.

The volume of mail hauled by rail declined considerably in the mid 1960s as a result of the cancelling of the Railway Post Office contracts and the divergence and discontinuance of passenger train service. Because of this the Penn Central established a network of solid mail train service for the exclusive use of the US Post Office.

At the start of the PC the RR operated eighteen such trains as desired by and controlled by the USPS. In 1972 that service was reduced to ten trains. Eight were solid van trains operating five days a week on east west routes. 

The remaining two were former PRR contract R.P.O. mail trains between NY and Washington DC. This AHM PRR RPO gets the job for this train. The RPO had not been run in fifteen years but has now got a job! Of course it needed new wheels and weight.

In April 1969 the ATSF and USPS made an agreement for the ATSF to haul mail in cars, trailers and containers in their Super C Trains with a forty hour schedule between Los Angeles and Chicago. The Super C connected with the PC at Chicago for a seventy hour LA to NY schedule.

In April 1971 the Burlington Northern inaugurated the "Pacific Zip", aka Train #3 hauling mail in cars, trailers and containers that went from Chicago to Seattle in fifty hours. Here's a portion of the "Pacific Zip with run thru BN power heading for Terminal Yard.

In July 1972 at the request of the USPS "Overland Mail" trains were established to handle mail in trailers and containers and to run on the UP-BN-SP for a fifty hour run from Oakland to Chicago. This train and the "Pacific Zip" also connected with the PC at Chicago for an eighty hour coast to coast schedule.

TOFC traffic was dominant on these Mail trains

 

A UP run thru GP30 is part of the Mail 9 consist heading west  connect with the Overland at Chicago.

All of the above trains made intermediate stops at major cities or interchange points. The PC wasn't the only RR utilizing flexi vans in mail service as noted in this photo.

At the congressional hearing the Southern Railway's Charles C. Bostwick, market manager of mail and express offered some interesting insights and more model RR tidbits. According to Mr Bostwick the Southern ran a seven day TOFC / COFC mail operation to accommodate the USPS schedules.

Another nice tidbit was the Southern, not an Amtrak participant at this time, ran a mail storage car on their daily Atlanta - Washington DC passenger trains that was handled between DC and New York five days a week on the PC contract mail train and two days a week by Amtrak. Mr Bostwick stated the car is there but seldom fully utilized. Here is a Southern Railway RPO on an eastbound PC train at Stamford CT.

This unlettered IHC RPO has become my stand in Southern Railway mail storage car for the PC contract mail train and Amtrak passenger train. This is another car that received metal wheels, additional weight and a new lease on life.

Running on PC and Amtrak from Washington DC to New York means Northeast Corridor which means electric motors. Here is a GG-1 handling the train thru Empire City.

Here's a compilation of some of the Mail Trains on the N.Y.C.T.L. 

I found the congressional record very interesting and a link for it is attached for your reading pleasure; 

House of Representatives hearings on the Transportation of Mail.

Thanks for reading and watching!!!

See ya soon!!!!