I usually stay out of these prototype discussions but this rang a bell in my
memory. My father died when I was ten (in 1933). We fell on hard times.
When I was 12 I got a job as a helper with a fellow who delivered grocery
orders in a station wagon in Huntington, NY. He also had a contract to pick
up the mail pouch from the two post offices in town every afternoon except
Sunday and bring them to the Long Island Railroad station at Huntington
Station. We hung the pouches on a pole close to track side. When the train
came in westbound from Port Jefferson heading toward Jamaica, the RPO car
would be at the front. There was a bar across the open door to the RPO car.
The bar swiveled and had a rod sticking down at about a 45 degree angle. As
it approached the pole with the pouches the mail clerk would tip the pole so
the 45 degree angle bar was sticking out horizontally and it would catch the
pouches which he then dragged in to the car while the train kept moving.
The car had to face so that this bar would be facing forward to catch the
pouch.
By the way, we also met the eastbound train in the morning but then
the mail clerk just tossed the pouches out on the platform, so the bar
didn't get used then. Wally Collins
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
Andrew_Malette
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 7:22 PM
To: Jamie Bothwell; S-Scale List
Subject: S-Scale Modeling The direction of mail cars
Jamie Bothwell wrote:
> elevator though. As for consist books, the PRR ones I have are very
> specific about the consist of trains, mail trains included, right
> down to which way the RPO's were to face (anyone know why?), and the
> consist on many mail trains changed depending on the day of the
> week. There was even some attempt to specify what some of the
> express cars carried such as "Newsweek" for example. Jamie
>
Hey Hoser,
I don't know about the Great White South, but up here the cars were
positionned with the baggage end toward the train. This was because the
postal area belonged or was leased to the Royal Canadian Post Office and was
not supposed to be accessible to the public. The inspector was also in
charge of designating where 'No Admittance' was applied. Whether this rule
was strictly followed or not, I don't know. We even had an 'R' and an 'L'
on the sides near the ends of the cars to show which way they were supposed
to be facing.
cheers,
Andy
Yahoo! Groups Links
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
