Travelling Post Office
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A Travelling Post Office (TPO) was a type of
mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...
train used in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
and
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
where the post was sorted en route. The TPO can be traced back to the earlier days of the railway, the first ever postal movement by rail being performed by the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...
(L&MR) on 11 November 1830. The Railways (Conveyance of Mails) Act 1838 obligated railway companies to carry mail, and thus specialised rolling stock was quickly provided; the first true TPO emerged that same year. Further innovations followed, such as the development of lineside apparatus for picking up and setting down mailbags while underway, and the use of dedicated mail trains. By 1914, there were 126 TPO carriages in operation throughout the United Kingdom, while numerous other nations had adopted the concept, wholly or in part, as well. During the latter part of the twentieth century, rail mail was subject to various changes. In Britain,
Rail Express Systems Rail Express Systems (RES) was a sector of British Rail. This sector was responsible for transport of mail and parcels, including the travelling post office trains, as well as taking over charter operations from InterCity and haulage of the Roy ...
(RES) was formed during the 1980s to rejuvenate the market, streamlining and centralising rail mail services, resulting in TPO coverage decreasing over the following years. During the 1990s, the
Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...
, Britain's main customer for TPOs, ordered 16 four-car
British Rail Class 325 The British Rail Class 325 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train owned by and operated for the Royal Mail to carry bulk mail. The class consists of four-car sets with dual-voltage 25kV (AC) and 750V (DC) power. While the Class 325 cabs bea ...
electric multiple units An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...
to replace locomotive-hauled counterparts in handling parcels. However, wider economic factors, including increasingly effective mechanical sorting methods in comparison to the TPO's manned sorting, along with operational safety concerns, made it increasingly unattractive to continue operating such services. Accordingly, the final regular TPO service in Great Britain was performed on 9 January 2004, with the carriages themselves used sold for scrap or to preservation societies. Since then, the
Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...
has occasionally transferred some mail by rail, but has preferred using aircraft or road vehicles for doing so.


History


Origins

On 11 November 1830, the first ever postal movement by rail was made by the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...
(L&MR), which had come to an agreement with the General Post Office (GPO) to move their mail upon L&MR services. It quickly became apparent that the railways were providing a much faster method of conveying letters across the country than traditional horse-drawn coaches. Accordingly, the carriage of mail by train in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
became a routine event within a matter of years. pp. 303-304. Initially, the movement of mail was at the choice of individual railway companies, being able to accept or refuse to do so at their discretion. The passing of the Railways (Conveyance of Mails) Act 1838 substantially reshaped the rail mail market. Chiefly, it required all railway companies to carry mail, either by ordinary or special trains, as required by the
Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. The practice of having a government official responsib ...
; however, this act did not stipulate what was to be charged for such services. In addition to making it mandatory for railway companies to carry mail, the act also required the provision of carriages fitted for sorting it as required; to handle this new obligation, these companies quickly developed specialised rolling stock for the task. According to industry periodical ''Rail Magazine'', the first ''Travelling Post Office'' (TPO) carriage emerged during 1838, and credited George Kastadt, a surveyor employed by the GPO, with the concept. On 6 January 1838, Kastadt proposed a trial of a ‘travelling office’, of which the first run was conducted just weeks later. The advantage of this innovation was that time could be saved by sorting mail while it was being transported, rather than separately sorting it either beforehand or afterwards and thus taking more time to do so. This initial TPO was a converted
horse box A horse trailer or horse van (also called a horse float in Australia and New Zealand or horsebox in the British Isles) is used to transport horses. There are many different designs, ranging in size from small units capable of holding two or thre ...
and was initially operated on the
Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...
. Karstadt's son was one of two mail clerks who did the sorting. During 1845, the
Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...
decided to extend their TPO services via
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
to
Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
; and soon after reached
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. The first special postal train was operated by the
Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
between
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
; the inaugural train ran on 1 February 1855, leaving
Paddington station Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great ...
at 20:46, and arriving at Bristol at 00:30. Prior to 1885, it was common practice for TPO carriages to be added to
consist In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...
s of normal passenger services. That same year, the first dedicated Mail Special was conducted. Early on, the TPOs were relatively barebones in terms of their onboard facilities. Internal space was limited and prioritised for the principal purpose of sorting mail, thus measures to enhance staff comfort was typically more of an afterthought. Initially, toilets were not even provided, although this position was reportedly reversed after the accidental death of a postal worker while relieving himself at the rear of a TPO.


Expansion and decline

While rail mail had emerged in Britain, the country was quickly followed by many of the member nations within the
British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
along with various third party countries. TPOs were usually equipped with letter boxes, enabling people in stations to post mail whilst the train was stationary. The post-marks from TPOs are valued by
philatelist Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is possi ...
s. During 1866, apparatus for picking up and setting down mailbags without stopping was installed at
Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
and Maidenhead. This concept had first been
patented A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
in 1838 by Nathaniel Worsdell, first deputy mayor of Crewe, and carriage and wagon superintendent at Crewe Works. Use of the system became prevalent over the following decades, it became commonplace for TPO carriages to be fitted with several for handling automated mail pickups/dropoffs, sometimes being furnished with four separate arms per carriage. By 1914, there were 126 TPO carriages in operation throughout the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. They were only referred to as TPOs for the first time in 1928, prior to this, the common term for mail carriages had been ''Railway Post Offices'' (RPOs). Following the nationalisation of the railways and the formation of British Rail (BR) in the late 1940s, TPOs continued to be operated by this new state-owned company. However, it was during the BR era that the transportation of mail by rail acquired an negative reputation for unreliability due to services frequently experiencing delays, typically resulting in late arrivals. By 1963, the year of the Great Train Robbery, there were 49 mail trains in service, with between one and five TPOs being typically attached to passenger trains, while complete TPO trains were routinely being operated between London and
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
and
Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...
. The final mail drop from a moving train using automatic apparatus was carried out on 4 October 1971 at a location just north of Penrith. Although there were in excess of 40 TPOs running at this time, item transfers were only carried out at stations after this date. During the 1980s, BR planners endeavoured to rejuvenate numerous aspects of its operations and to better fulfil customer demands. Under the policy of Sectorisation, the TPOS and all rail mail operations were consolidated into their own business unit,
Rail Express Systems Rail Express Systems (RES) was a sector of British Rail. This sector was responsible for transport of mail and parcels, including the travelling post office trains, as well as taking over charter operations from InterCity and haulage of the Roy ...
(RES). This reorganisation under its own management team led to a new focus of its operations on the specific needs of its primary customer, the
Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...
(RM). Seeking to rejuvenate rail mail, RES devised a £150 million strategy that focused on long-distance services that worked in conjunction with a central hub based in London at its heart, known as ''Railnet''. During late 1993, RED and RM had signed a 13-year deal with RES to operate the trains from this new hub, also referred to as the ''London Distribution Centre'' or the ''Princess Royal Distribution Centre'', at Stonebridge Park, near
Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
. Furthermore, RM commissioned
ABB ABB Ltd. is a Swedish- Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to crea ...
to manufacture 16 four-car
British Rail Class 325 The British Rail Class 325 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train owned by and operated for the Royal Mail to carry bulk mail. The class consists of four-car sets with dual-voltage 25kV (AC) and 750V (DC) power. While the Class 325 cabs bea ...
electric multiple units, which were designed specifically for the transport of pre-sorted mail.


Post-privatisation of British Rail

Following the
privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industr ...
in the mid 1990s, all British TPOs were acquired along with RES by the privately owned company English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) in February 1996. Following the opening of the new London hub on 30 September 1996, British rail mail operations were drastically restructured; only dedicated mail trains were operated after this date while TPOs were no longer based at any main line stations, as it had been decided to centrally base all London TPOs at the hub instead. Accordingly, the final TPO services departed King's Cross, Euston, Liverpool Street and Paddington stations on 27 September 1996. The restructuring of services, intended to enable the faster delivery of mail to distant destinations, necessitated the streamlining of both mail pick-ups and drop-offs, a policy which resulted in many intermediate locations seeing the permanent withdrawal of coverage by TPOs. Instead, mail was to be transported by road to the 45 stations that would be served by the remaining TPO services. Despite this, the increasing efficiency of mechanical sorting in comparison to the hand sorting methods used onboard TPOs meant that the latter was becoming increasingly uneconomic regardless of these changes. A further factor that negatively impacted TPO operations was the
Hatfield rail crash The Hatfield rail crash was a railway accident on 17 October 2000, at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. It was caused by a metal fatigue-induced derailment, killing four people and injuring more than 70. The accident exposed major stewardship shortco ...
during October 2000, which led to numerous restrictions being imposed upon TPOs, including new speed limitations and numerous cancellations across many routes. There were also rising concerns over wellbeing of workers within TPOs, as there was little consideration towards crashworthiness or the wellbeing of the occupants in the event of a major accident. Furthermore, RM had increasingly decided to make use of other means of transporting mail, including aircraft and road vehicles. Amid these various factors, during 2003, it was announced that Royal Mail had decided to suspend all transportation of mail by rail.Written statement by Royal Mail
(Document FOR 105), House of Commons
Transport Select Committee The Transport Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Transport and its asso ...
, September 2003.
The discontinuation of TPOs reportedly saved RM £10m per year, while the contract to operate them reportedly equated to 10 per cent of EWS’ overall business, representing a major loss to the company. The last TPO services went out on the night of 9 January 2004,"Send of the line - last journey by mail trains." ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'', 10 January 2004.
marking the end of sorting of mail on trains in Britain. However, Royal Mail did restore the movement of some already-sorted letters by rail in time for the Christmas season that year, contracting with EWS's competitor
GB Railfreight GB Railfreight (GBRf) is a rail freight company in the United Kingdom. As of 2022, it is owned by the global investment company Infracapital. GB Railfreight was established in April 1999 as the rail freight operating subsidiary of the train o ...
to resume bulk transfer services along the
West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...
between its mail terminals at London (Willesden), Warrington and Glasgow ( Sheildmuir) using the dedicated Class 325 electric multiple units that had been in operation since 1996. In 2009, the contract for these mail trains was transferred to EWS's successor
DB Schenker Rail DB Cargo (previously known as Railion and DB Schenker Rail) is an international transport and logistics company. It is responsible for all of the rail freight transport activities of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn (the DB Group) bo ...
. For flexibility, Royal Mail had preserved rail access to its distribution centres on Tyneside (Low Fell) and at Tonbridge in Kent, and did occasionally send mail trains to Low Fell, for example when Newcastle Airport was closed by snow. In June 2013, a regular service resumed from Low Fell.


Ireland

The carrying of mail by train commenced on 6 April 1835 and early TPOs began on Irish trains on the Dublin to Cork line on 1 January 1855, though general post-carrying vehicles had been around since the early days of the
Dublin and Kingstown Railway The Dublin and Kingstown Railway (D&KR), which opened in 1834, was Ireland’s first passenger railway. It linked Westland Row in Dublin with Kingstown Harbour (Dún Laoghaire) in County Dublin. The D&KR was also notable for a number of other ...
. By 1910, a total of 13 TPOs were in operation throughout the country. In 1958, Coras Iompair Eireann built four modern TPOs for
Department of Posts and Telegraphs The Minister for Posts and Telegraphs ( ga, Aire Poist agus Telegrafa) was the holder of a position in the Government of Ireland (and, earlier, in the Executive Council of the Irish Free State). From 1924 until 1984 – when it was abolished †...
at their
Inchicore Works Inchicore railway works, also known locally as 'Inchicore' or 'The Works', was founded by the Great Southern and Western Railway in 1846 and emerged to become the major engineering centre for railways in Ireland. Located west of Dublin city ...
. Some time before their withdrawal it had been decided that two would be dedicated to use on the
Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...
Mail and two to the
Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
Mail, both of which originated from
Connolly station Connolly station ( ga, Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile) or Dublin Connolly is one of the busiest railway stations in Dublin and Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. On the North side of the River Liffey, it provides InterCi ...
in Dublin. The movement of post by rail in Ireland ended in 1994 with the last day mails on 14 January and the final operational night mails on 17 January on both the Cork and Galway routes. Two of the 1958-built TPOs survived into preservation- 2977 of the Cork Mails and 2978 of the Galway Mails. Both are at the
Downpatrick and County Down Railway The Downpatrick and County Down Railway (DCDR) is a five-foot, three-inch (1,600 mm) gauge heritage railway in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is operated by volunteers and runs passenger trains using steam and diesel locomotives, diesel ra ...
, who own 2978, whilst 2977 is still owned by An Post.


Preservation

Several Royal Mail TPOs have been preserved along with stowage vans and general utility vans (GUVs). Only one PCV ( Propelling Control Vehicle) remains, currently at the
Mid-Norfolk Railway The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway, one of the longest in Great Britain. Preservation efforts began in 1974, but the line re-opened to passengers only in the mid-1990s as part of the "new generation" ...
. At these preserved lines the TPOs can be seen performing a live drop off/pick up from a preserved lineside apparatus. The
Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...
and the
Nene Valley Railway The Nene Valley Railway (NVR) is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere, ...
are leading this endeavour with many weekends devoted to Mail by Rail. Other lines are following in their wake.


TPO vehicles

TPOs were formed of several different types of vehicle: *
Post Office sorting van A Post Office sorting van is a type of rail vehicle built for use in a Travelling Post Office. British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail ...
* Post Office stowage van * Brake Post Office stowage van * Propelling control vehicle *
Brake van Brake van and guard's van are terms used mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australia and India for a railway vehicle equipped with a hand brake which can be applied by the guard. The equivalent North American term is caboose, but a British brake van ...
* General utility van


See also

* Great Central Steam Railway - where the Travelling Post Office and Mail Exchange on the Move is recreated *
Great Train Robbery (1963) The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.6million from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshir ...
in which £2.3 million was stolen from a Glasgow to London TPO train *
Night Mail ''Night Mail'' is a 1936 British documentary film directed and produced by Harry Watt and Basil Wright, and produced by the General Post Office (GPO) Film Unit. The 24-minute film documents the nightly postal train operated by the London, ...
- Film and poem about Travelling Post Office * Railways (Conveyance of Mails) Act 1838 *
Railway post office In Canada and the United States, a railway post office, commonly abbreviated as RPO, was a railroad car that was normally operated in passenger service as a means to sort mail en route, in order to speed delivery. The RPO was staffed by highly tr ...
-
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n term for cars that served similar functions. *
SNCF TGV La Poste The TGV La Poste were dedicated trainsets for high-speed freight and mail transportation by French railway company SNCF on behalf of the French postal carrier La Poste. The top speed of this TGV Sud-Est derivate was , making them the fastest fre ...
- French Post Office dedicated TGV sets. *
British Rail Class 325 The British Rail Class 325 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) train owned by and operated for the Royal Mail to carry bulk mail. The class consists of four-car sets with dual-voltage 25kV (AC) and 750V (DC) power. While the Class 325 cabs bea ...
, Royal Mail EMUs used in Britain. *
London Post Office Railway The Post Office Railway, is a narrow gauge, driverless underground railway in London that was built by the Post Office with assistance from the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, to transport mail between sorting offices. Inspire ...
, that Royal Mail used to transport mail across London on private underground tracks. *
Nene Valley Railway The Nene Valley Railway (NVR) is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere, ...
, where visitors can ride the TPOs and get off at a remote exchange point to watch the mail pickup/drop off.


References


Further reading

*


External links


The Travelling Post Office
British Postal Museum and Archive The Postal Museum (formerly the British Postal Museum & Archive) is a postal museum run by the Postal Heritage Trust. It began in 2004 as The British Postal Museum & Archive and opened in Central London as The Postal Museum on 28 July 2017. S ...

The British Postal Museum & Archive - Victorian Travelling Post Office.
Allan Yeo website.

Mike Smith 'Goods and Not So Goods' website.

John Chenery 'Light Straw' website.
Friends of M30272M TPO Group
Nene Valley Railway The Nene Valley Railway (NVR) is a preserved railway in Cambridgeshire, England, running between Peterborough Nene Valley and Yarwell Junction. The line is in length. There are stations at each terminus, and three stops en route: Orton Mere, ...
(via archive.org)
Schedule of mail trains operating from London (Willesden) in 2002 TPO and Seapost Society for all collectors of Rail and Ship Mail worldwide
* {{citation, chapter-url =http://www.railwaywondersoftheworld.com/tpos.html, chapter = Travelling Post Offices, title = Railway Wonders of the World , date=1 March 1935, pages= 157–162 , editor-first=Clarence , editor-last=Winchester , an account of Travelling Post Offices in the 1930s British railway wagons DB Cargo UK Philatelic terminology Postal infrastructure in the United Kingdom Postal vehicles Sorting offices