Neither Snow Nor Rain · Episode 4 of 10 · 22 min
The Day the Mail Left the Rails
For a century, passenger trains and the mail were one business, with Railway Post Office clerks sorting letters at seventy miles an hour. In fall 1967 the Post Office canceled nearly all its railroad mail contracts within weeks. The episode follows the dominoes: route discontinuances, the Penn Central bankruptcy, Amtrak, and the last RPO run in 1977, and weighs whether the mail decision killed passenger rail or only set the date.
Who's who
- George B. ArmstrongChicago postal official who launched the first permanent Railway Post Office
- William A. DavisSt. Joseph, Missouri clerk who sorted mail on trains in 1862
- Lawrence F. O'BrienPostmaster General under whom rail mail contracts were canceled in 1967
- Howard Hosmer+1 more episodeICC examiner who predicted in 1958 passenger trains would vanish by 1970
- Stuart Saunders+1 more episodeChairman of Penn Central when it went bankrupt in 1970
- Richard Nixon+15 more episodesPresident who signed the Rail Passenger Service Act creating Amtrak
Where it happens
- Chicago to Clinton, IowaRoute of the first permanent Railway Post Office, 1864
- St. Joseph, MissouriSite of Davis's 1862 sorting experiment on the Hannibal & St. Joseph
- New York to Washington, D.C.Route of the last Railway Post Office run in 1977
Timeline
- August 28, 1864Armstrong's Chicago-Clinton run begins permanent Railway Post Office service
- 1958Transportation Act eases train discontinuance; Hosmer predicts passenger trains will be gone by 1970
- Fall 1967Post Office cancels most railroad mail contracts within weeks
- June 21, 1970Penn Central files the largest U.S. corporate bankruptcy to that date
- October 30, 1970Rail Passenger Service Act signed, creating Amtrak
- June 30, 1977Last Railway Post Office makes its final run
Still debated
Historians divide over whether the 1967 cancellations killed passenger rail or merely finished a line already doomed by highways and jets. Credit for inventing the Railway Post Office is also contested between Armstrong and Davis, and Penn Central's collapse had many causes.
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