Wes and Hubert:
Wes wrote:
> A nitpick: it was the Post Office Department (USPOD) until 1970.
> The mail business was reorganized as the Post Service (USPS), an
> independent government agency, in that year.
Thanks for that detail and the feed back.
> The Zephyr-Rocket would be somewhat similar, although
> it did have a stop at the point where it changed railroads. Did it
> set out and pick up a home lines RPO?
The RPO route was St. Louis to St. Paul. A single car operated in its
entirety. Both roads contributed RPOs to the train.
> Another nitpick: most large printing plants had (and still
> have) their own rail access, often extending right into their
> buildings. Wouldn't it have been more likely that the magazine's
> cars were loaded right in the printing plant?
In Chicago, moving carloads or LTC by rubber tire is easier than moving
loaded baggage cars across town. R. R. Donnely, also known as Lakeside
Press, printed many of these products. They were located along the ICRR at
the Lakefront and 23rd Street. Moving a car from there to the Q would have
been a time consuming and expensive task. I can cite that even into the late
sixties, one day a week, the Denver Zephyr carried a second baggage car.
That car was loaded with magazines on the team track west of Union Ave.
Interlocking.
I suspect that whether shipped via USPOD or REA, the carloads were targeted
to individual break points, like Denver, for redistrbution of the product.
This suggests that other Chicago railroads experienced similar events. For
Example, Santa Fe could deliver to KC, Texas, and the Southwest. or ICRR to
the south.
Let's not forget the ICRR. Three trains laden with mail and express departed
each evening for Memphis, N'Awlin's or Flori-DUH (sorry, I couldn't help
that), the Seminole, Louisianne, and the Southern Express. The also had
northbound counterparts.
Hubert wrote:
> I used to handle mail sacks at Kansas City Union Station. After receiving
> mail from the Post Office, loading a mail storage car was hard work of
> course. Several men forming a chain. The lead man grabbing the mail off a
> baggage wagon and passing the the sacks to the next, and so on while the end
> man built the stack to a mark on the wall almost to the ceiling of the car.
> Magazine sacks were dreaded because they were heavy.
I watched the loading of storage cars in CUS several times and was amazed at
the method used to fill the cars. Just as you describe! Most of those cars
were rated with a capacity of sixty tons. When loaded they had to be at
capacity if not slightly above it! Those mail trains were heavy! We often do
not think of a passenger car loaded more heavily than a freight car, ok a
forty foot, fifty ton car....
Ed
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