TPO exchanges - USA style

The Americans exchanged mail differently to how we did it in the UK as this video shows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IirDQzgz ... re=related

 

Not TPOs in the USA but the Post Office Railway under London:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwRBrUwh ... re=related

 

There was no official limit.

I have done exchanges at about 1-2MPH upto, well, very fast. It could be done at any speed, but I wouldn't like to be on coach doing 80MPH or above with the doors open and leather pouches flying around.

 

The British equipment looks to be ore gentle on the bags and more foolproof...

 

I guess the average drop/pick up from a rural station would have been pretty small in the USA.

 

I have to admit I know very little about the USA system, but the amount of mail exchanged on the move was small, as seen in the demonstration video. In the UK there was more exchanges made due to the short distances between mail locations and the short amount of time to get mail from one end of the country to the other. Only when diesels came in and their ability to pick up speed and slow down could exchanges of mail be eliminated.

 

Ralph,

I've been thinking about this a bit more.

Whilst an exchange can take place at almost any speed; it had to to allow for speed restrictions, etc. it has been found from exerience that in preservation the best speed to travel at is around 25MPH, i.e. line speed. If you travel any slower, or indeed a LOT faster, then damage is done to the leather pouches - and these need to be kept in good condition to ensure their long term survival. At 25MPH the public on the lineside can also see the exchange a lot more easily, remember they have to view the drop and the pickup and at the end of the day these exchanges are there to entertain the public and educate them on a system no longer in use.

 

Talking of recreating the experience ....

At the GCR's January "Winter Gala", it was COLD ... including snow. I am sure you all remember it.

The last TPO of the day left Loughborough behind 30777, with the temperature droping rapidly. We had the leather pouches already attached to the traductor arms, so the doors were open. As the train ran along the line to Quorn the cold outside air was rushing through the open doors into the carriage, which has NO heating (electric train heating with a steam heat loco). Boy, was it cold. It hit home to me that these were the conditions that were experienced when the service ran every night over many years. By the time we got back to Loughborough I could hardly feel my feet and my hands were numb. Once into my car I turned the heaters on FULL and I managed to defrost by the time I got home about an hour later.

On the other hand, during summer these TPO tin cans get VERY hot. Us English never stop moaning do we :-k

The TPO men of yore were far tougher than I ever realised.

 

6115 in nightmail certainly isnt doing a drop at 25mph !!! probably more like 60 !

 

Yes, but in those days they were not putting on a show for the public or even worried about the service life of the pouches. In those days a pouch would last for so long and then new ones or repaired ones would replace them. The Post Office actually had a team of people making / repairing them. They are now museum peices and as such need to be looked after, hence the need for RVP / NVR to have new ones made so that the old ones can be retired and protected.

The cost of a new pouch is some £750, just so that it can be "thrown" out of a coach into a waiting lineside net. The hard part is finding a saddler that is prepared to take on the task of making these pouches, not easy in this country when we are more than happy to throw away all the tradition skills.

I will have to put a page on the TPO website showing one of these new pouches and the damage that does occur to them in "preserved" use.

 

Just found this on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymnh04By7CI
Shows up very well How the UK system worked.