Postal Transportation Service
Encyclopedia
On October 1, 1949, the Post Office Department renamed the Railway Mail Service
as the Postal Transportation Service (PTS). Although this branch of the service had been in charge of all transit mail, some parts had little to do with railroads, although they were still the most important part of the service. In 1950, of the 32,000 clerks assigned to the PTS, only about 16,000 actually worked on trains. The remainder were in terminals, transfer offices, Air Mail Facility
, Highway Post Office
s (HPO), administrative offices, etc. Boat Railway Post Office
(Boat RPO), Streetcar Railway Post Office
s, and the Seapost Service
had already been discontinued. The name of the Chief Clerk's office was changed to District Superintendent's office.
During the preceding decades, only one or two clerks per year had lost their lives in wrecks and several years saw no fatalities. When Pennsylvania Railroad
's crack "Red Arrow," New York City, New York & Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Railway Post Office
(RPO) Train 68, derailed in 1947 at Bennington Curve (West of Altoona, Pennsylvania
), killing six clerks and badly injuring others, the whole country was shocked.
Even with all the trains that had been discontinued, the several round trips of RPO service on trunk lines, along with the expanded service and the star route
highway services connecting the RPOs, maintained very good mail service through the 1950s. In the 1950s the Post Office Department turned the supervision of what had been the PTS Terminals over to the postmasters where the terminals were located.
In 1963, the Sectional Center concept of transit mail service was announced, along with the introduction of a ZIP Code
on mail to facilitate mechanized processing. The ZIP Code made it possible to distribute all mail by numbers with machines holding the routing associated for each address. This was a far cry from the knowledge that was necessary before when Mobile Unit distribution clerks were expected to know the routing for several thousand post offices in their assignment. There was no place in the new set-up for an RPO service.
This development gave the railroads, knowing they were going to lose the mail revenue, an excuse to get out of the unprofitable passenger train business, something that they had wanted to do for years. After that, when a train was discontinued, instead of moving the RPO car on to another set of trains still operating, the RPO service was also discontinued. Within about four years there was only one round trip of RPO service left on practically all the trunk lines, and their value was minimal.
It came as no surprise to the railroads or to the remaining RPO clerks when, on April 21, 1968, Assistant Postmaster General Hartigan issued a news release concerning RPO service. It stated that RPO cars on 162 passenger trains in the nation would be phased out of service by the end of the year, affecting 2,224 postal workers. The RPO clerks who were furloughed had a choice: they were placed in post offices at or near their homes, or they retired. If a clerk found no assignment in his grade at the post office assigned, he could keep his higher grade for two years, after which he had to take a reduction.
With one exception, the phasing out was a success. The New York, New York & Washington, DC RPO, which covered the highest populated corridor in the nation, continued to operate until 1977. On a part of this same line, between Philadelphia and Washington, the first recorded "route agent" had been assigned to accompany the mail, 140 years earlier. The USPS continued to use regular scheduled Amtrak passenger trains to haul the mail on this line.
On October 30, 1984, a "mail-only" train service was inaugurated between Washington, D.C., and Springfield/Boston, MA with a timetable tailored specifically to meet the postal service requirements. The northbound train was named "The Fast Mail" (train #12, later #190) departing Washington daily at 3 AM and the southbound "The Mail Express" (#13). Eventually, all mail transportation on Amtrak
was discontinued by 2005.
Railway Mail Service
The United States Postal Service's Railway Mail Service was a significant mail transportation service in the US during the time period from the mid-19th century until the mid-20th century. The RMS, or its successor the Postal Transportation Service , carried the vast majority of letters and...
as the Postal Transportation Service (PTS). Although this branch of the service had been in charge of all transit mail, some parts had little to do with railroads, although they were still the most important part of the service. In 1950, of the 32,000 clerks assigned to the PTS, only about 16,000 actually worked on trains. The remainder were in terminals, transfer offices, Air Mail Facility
Air Mail Facility
With the establishment of the first air-mail route in 1918, and the later additional routes, plus the accepted use of premium priced air mail by the public, it was only natural that the Railway Mail Service , being in charge of transit mail, was assigned the task of establishing Air Mail Field ...
, Highway Post Office
Highway Post Office
Due to the continual withdrawal of so many Railway Post Office trains, the Post Office Department decided to experiment with the distribution of mail on large buses, equipped somewhat like RPO cars. On February 10, 1941, experimental service started on the Washington, DC & Harrisonburg, Virginia...
s (HPO), administrative offices, etc. Boat Railway Post Office
Boat Railway Post Office
Post was transported over water in the United States in the later nineteenth and the twentieth century.-Origins:Route Agents and, later, Railway Post Office clerks were placed on inland boat lines at a very early date; postmarks go back to 1857...
(Boat RPO), Streetcar Railway Post Office
Streetcar Railway Post Office
Streetcar Railway Post Office routes operated in several major USA cities between the 1890s and 1920s. The final route was in Baltimore, Maryland. The Mobile Post Office Society, Affiliate 64 of the American Philatelic Society, has published monographs detailing the operational history of each...
s, and the Seapost Service
Seapost Service
A Seapost was a mail compartment aboard an ocean-going vessel in which international exchange mail was distributed. The first USA service of this type was the U.S.-German Seapost, which began operating in 1891 on the S.S. Havel North German Lloyd Line. This service rapidly expanded with routes to...
had already been discontinued. The name of the Chief Clerk's office was changed to District Superintendent's office.
During the preceding decades, only one or two clerks per year had lost their lives in wrecks and several years saw no fatalities. When Pennsylvania Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad was an American Class I railroad, founded in 1846. Commonly referred to as the "Pennsy", the PRR was headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
's crack "Red Arrow," New York City, New York & Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
Railway Post Office
Railway post office
In the United States a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly trained Railway Mail Service postal clerks, and was off-limits to...
(RPO) Train 68, derailed in 1947 at Bennington Curve (West of Altoona, Pennsylvania
Altoona, Pennsylvania
-History:A major railroad town, Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849 as the site for a shop complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868...
), killing six clerks and badly injuring others, the whole country was shocked.
Even with all the trains that had been discontinued, the several round trips of RPO service on trunk lines, along with the expanded service and the star route
Star routes
Star routes is a term used in connection with the United States postal service and the contracting of mail delivery services. The term is defunct as of 1970, but still is occasionally used to refer to Highway Contract Routes or which replaced the Star routes.-Background:Prior to 1845,...
highway services connecting the RPOs, maintained very good mail service through the 1950s. In the 1950s the Post Office Department turned the supervision of what had been the PTS Terminals over to the postmasters where the terminals were located.
Discontinuance of the Mobile Units
The HPO and RPO routes were collectively referred to as Mobile Units. The next move by the Post Office Department, in 1960, was to put each PTS District Superintendent's office under a postmaster, calling it the Mobile Unit Section, c/o Postmaster. This put all RPO clerks under postmasters. When there was no longer a surplus of RPO clerks from discontinued lines to fill vacancies on lines still operating, both subs and regulars from the post office roster were used. This eliminated the need for PTS civil service examinations.In 1963, the Sectional Center concept of transit mail service was announced, along with the introduction of a ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
on mail to facilitate mechanized processing. The ZIP Code made it possible to distribute all mail by numbers with machines holding the routing associated for each address. This was a far cry from the knowledge that was necessary before when Mobile Unit distribution clerks were expected to know the routing for several thousand post offices in their assignment. There was no place in the new set-up for an RPO service.
This development gave the railroads, knowing they were going to lose the mail revenue, an excuse to get out of the unprofitable passenger train business, something that they had wanted to do for years. After that, when a train was discontinued, instead of moving the RPO car on to another set of trains still operating, the RPO service was also discontinued. Within about four years there was only one round trip of RPO service left on practically all the trunk lines, and their value was minimal.
It came as no surprise to the railroads or to the remaining RPO clerks when, on April 21, 1968, Assistant Postmaster General Hartigan issued a news release concerning RPO service. It stated that RPO cars on 162 passenger trains in the nation would be phased out of service by the end of the year, affecting 2,224 postal workers. The RPO clerks who were furloughed had a choice: they were placed in post offices at or near their homes, or they retired. If a clerk found no assignment in his grade at the post office assigned, he could keep his higher grade for two years, after which he had to take a reduction.
With one exception, the phasing out was a success. The New York, New York & Washington, DC RPO, which covered the highest populated corridor in the nation, continued to operate until 1977. On a part of this same line, between Philadelphia and Washington, the first recorded "route agent" had been assigned to accompany the mail, 140 years earlier. The USPS continued to use regular scheduled Amtrak passenger trains to haul the mail on this line.
On October 30, 1984, a "mail-only" train service was inaugurated between Washington, D.C., and Springfield/Boston, MA with a timetable tailored specifically to meet the postal service requirements. The northbound train was named "The Fast Mail" (train #12, later #190) departing Washington daily at 3 AM and the southbound "The Mail Express" (#13). Eventually, all mail transportation on Amtrak
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
was discontinued by 2005.