TRAVELLING POST OFFICES
Mail by Rail Mail was first carried by rail between Liverpool and Manchester in 1830, thus effecting a considerable saving of time. By 1838 it was realised that still more time could be saved if the mail were to be sorted en route. Thus it was that an experiment was carried out between Liverpool and Birmingham in January of that year. This was the birth of the travelling post office.
Postmarks. The interest in travelling post offices is in their postmarks. Marks reading (e.g.) E/NR in a circle (Evening/Northern Railway) refer to the Grand Northern Railway (London - Preston) and were applied in the Inland Office in London to mail which was too late to be dealt with in the ordinary was and therefore sent to the T.P.O. to be sorted. This letter was sent from London on 16^th September, 1845 to Macclesfield where it arrived the following day.
	Some of the earliest marks actually used by the travelling post offices were missent marks. Shown here is such a mark from the MIDLAND T.P.O. DOWN (Bristol - Newcastle) reading “MISSENT-TO/ MIDLAND-R-P-O DOWN.” It was used on an 1856 letter from Bridge of Allan to Dewsbury marked “Immediate.” From the datestamps on the back we deduce that the letter left Bridge of Allan on 3^rd November, reached Newcastle on the 4^th and arrived in Dewsbury on the 5^th.
T.P.O. vehicles had a letter box to receive mail posted at railway stations. Items of mail thus posted received the cancellation peculiar to that T.P.O. One of the postmarks most frequently found is that of the Glasgow & Carlisle Sorting Tender. The train left Glasgow Central in the early evening and was a convenient service for late the posting of mail to the south. Shown here is a postcard addressed to a bank in Ashbourne posted on November 18^th 1872. The postmark is the duplex with the number 159 for Glasgow.
			Mail by Rail Overseas Other countries quickly followed Great Britain by introducing travelling post offices. Here is a cover postmarked 30^th April, 1877on the Italian T.P.O. between Ventimiglia and Genoa. In this case the T.P.O. postmark is a sorting mark, the stamp having been cancelled by a rectangular grille at the place of origin.
The Decline and Fall of the Travelling Post Office At one time every major country of the world had a comprehensive network of T.P.O. routes. Today there are very few left and, of those which survive, their days are probably numbered. Here is a special cover to mark the last run of the BRISTOL – DERBY T.P.O. on 30^th September 1988.
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