Description:This postcard view shows the transfer of mailbags between a fast moving train and an unknown railway station. Please contact us if you recognise the precise location.
In the centre on the immediate right of the train a leather mailbag can been seen suspended from a trackside mechanism. There would be a net on the passing Travelling Post Office carriage (incorporated into the train's set of carriages) which would scoop up the bag and transfer it into the carriage for sorting during the journey. Simultaneously another bag destined for this station could be transferred from the train to a trackside bin. This system continued to operate until 1971.
This London & North Western Railway Co. (LNWR) postcard was written at Euston Station at 5.30 p.m. and franked at Stafford Station at 10.45 p.m. on the same day in 1906.