"Flight of the Fast Mail"

ID # 910

"FLIGHT OF THE FAST MAIL"

This old print shows engine No. 317 of "The New York Central and Lake Shore Railroad Post-Office," about to pick up a mail bag on the fly. This speedy, all-mail exhibition train operated between New York and Chicago in competition with a similar Pennsy run. On the Post Office's first westbound trip, September 14, 1875, the Vanderbilts private car Duchess, for eminent guests, was coupled behind the four white-painted, gold-lettered cars with their bright red mailbags. An Act of Congress July 7, 1838, declared all railroads to be post roads and authorized the U. S. Post Office to make contracts for hauling mail by rail. The first railway post office car, a converted baggage car, ran July 7, 1862, over the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad (now in the Burlington system) in Missouri as a special part of the pony express route.

COVERDALE AND COLPITTS COLLECTION