RPO History!

Railway Post Office operations ceased in Canada in the mid to late 1960s. Thus, there are not many of the clerks that were involved in those operations that can be consulted today. Fortunately, there are written accounts but when specific questions arise, it is wonderful to be able to call on someone's memory.

I have begun to post tidbits of information that have come to me and I encourage others to pitch in.

During 2004, I became acquainted with Clarence Hopkin, a 90 year old ex-RPO postal clerk. Clarence worked on westward lines out of Brandon on the south side of the Main Line. Here are some of his comments:

Mr. Hopkin served as an RPO clerk and main post office clerk, at Brandon. His years as an RPO clerk included: June, 1943 to March, 1947. The runs he worked included: Brandon & Estevan, Brandon & Regina, and Brandon, Bulyea and Regina. Note: on the latter, his crew did not work from Bulyea to Regina but went there to lie-over.

Men he worked with on RPO cars included:

Harry Penton
Jim Carr
Bob Cooper
Doug Johnston
Stan Copp
? McKinnon
? Orchard
Horace Sefton

His notes: "required to learn and know all post offices in Northwestern Ontario (Lakehead to Manitoba border), all Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Distribution and Connections. RPOs or baggage car service or P.O.s of towns where mail was distributed from, such as Brandon, Forrest, Boissevain, Rapid City, etc.

Examined on these in practical case exam. Written exam on Postal Law and Rules and Regulations regarding RPOs and Baggage Car Service.

Case exam and written exam held the same day once every year. Average mark MUST not be below 90%. The general average was 98 or 99%. Occasionally, RMCs got 100% in one or the other; once in a while for both exams.

Required to take the case exams alternately Man. and NW Ontario - then Sask. and Alta.

After 10 years, one was allowed to select whichever combination he wished. After 20 years, no exams were required if you had continuous service.

In the main post office (money orders, stamps, etc.), one was required to be examined once a year on "Financial Law and Postal Law" - "Financial", for short.

After 20 years service, exams were no longer required unless applying for a supervisor's position.

Some RPOs and Baggage Car Service - Also some P.O. were served by motor vehicle (MVs)

BRANDON/ESTEVAN, BRANDON/REGINA, BRANDON/BULYEA/REGINA, WINNIPEG/KAMSACK, SOURIS/REGINA, WINNIPEG/DELORAINE, KAMSACK/SASKATOON, WINNIPEG/VIRDEN, WINNIPEG/RIVERS, RIVERS/REGINA, VIRDEN/REGINA, WINNIPEG/SOURIS, RIVERS/SASKATOON, SASKATOON/WAINWRIGHT/EDMONTON, MOOSE JAW/SHAUNAVON, MEDICINE HAT/NELSON, SASKATOON/DRUMHELLER, SASKATOON/MELVILLE/CARROT RIVER, PRINCE ALBERT/BATTLEFORD, WINNIPEG/MOOSE JAW, MOOSE JAW/CALGARY, CALGARY/VANCOUVER, CALGARY/EDMONTON, EDMONTON/DAWSON CREEK, LETHBRIDGE/CALGARY

Baggage Car Service:

NEEPAWA/RUSSELL, NEEPAWA/BEULAH, RESTON/WOLSELEY, PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE BRANCH (FORREST, MOORE PARK, OBERON, etc.)

BRANDON/BOISSEVAIN (MVS), BRANDON/WAWANESA (MVS)

Mail Cars

Mail cars were 30, 60 and 90 ft in length. 30 ft cars were usually half of a 60 ft car and entirely sealed off from the baggage car and were marked "mail car". A baggage car service had a heavy steel locked mail container inside the car with a steel latch on the outside marked "mail" and was given to a connecting mail clerk at the end of the run or to a designated postmaster for unlocking and handling the mail inside.

60 ft cars were sometimes all mail cars or designated by the Post Office Department as 30 ft mail car and 10, 20 or 30 ft baggage car at the baggage car rate at the discretion of the "clerk in charge".

90 ft cars were very frequently designated by the Post Office Department as 60 ft mail cars and 30 ft baggage car. The rates paid by the PO was so much a mile and another rate for the baggage mail that was carried.

CNR trains 5 & 6 WINNIPEG/BRANDON/REGINA was so designated and moved a lot of American mail from Edmonton that way (Winnipeg, Brandon, Regina, N. Battleford, Edmonton). I made numerous trips on this run (WINNIPEG/BRANDON/REGINA).

The Case Examination

As of 1943-47, there were 2600 post offices in Sask. And Alta.

There was a card for each PO, printed with the name and province. One could buy each province separately at about $3.50 to $5.00 for each province. Or one could buy a box of 500 blank cards and write in the POs.

In a case about 25 inches by 25 inches with 100 separations. One made headings for each of these separations. R.P.O.s, B.C. Service or Distribution according to the plan provided by the Post Office Dept.

One was given 1000 cards and allowed 60 minutes for an examination. Sometimes an examining inspector would allow 15 extra minutes if there had been interruptions. My best mark was 98.2% which means that I had dropped 18 cards either by mistake or had not known the correct distribution. I had 100 % on my written exam with congratulations written over the inspector's signature.

In mid-March, 2005, I posted a request for information on the CNLines-CNet@yahoogroups.com bulletin board.

"I would like to get in touch with anyone knowledgeable about RPO services on the Winnipeg-Warroad-Ft.Frances-Duluth line(s)in the 1930s. This includes the DWP line. Canadian RPO services existed between Winnipeg and Ft. Frances; US RPO services existed between Warroad and Duluth. Obviously, there could have been some duplication/overlap and I wonder how that was handled?"

Here are some replies:

  • I lived in Middlebro, Manitoba from 1949 to 1957 but unfortunately as an 8 year old didn't ask for details on the RPO cross-border legalities. I do remember going to the station just before the 9:30 pm eastbound passenger arrived and giving the postmaster, George Templeman, a letter that had a 3-cent Cdn stamp on it and he would hand it to the people in the RPO. All mail from Middlebro went out eastbound.

    If you did the same in Warroad, MN, the letter needed US postage even though it was the same car. I may be wrong but I believe the car had a US clerk who worked from Warroad to Baudette and rode along with the Cdn ones. From Rainy River, ON, the Canadians took over.

    Did the car have dual marking for Canadian and United States mail?? I'm not sure.

    The DW&P was out of my home territory so I can't help.

    BTW, the rwy bridge at Baudette is a separate company of its own.

    Nick A.

  • believe that RPO cars assigned to such trains as these had "U.S.Mail" lettering on them. I have seen photos of "Mail & Express" cars with both 30' postal apartments and 15' postal apartments lettered as such. Apparently, our post office did not stipulate such lettering. Also, in case anyone questions my use of the word "apartment" instead of "compartment", I heard this a lot from retired "Railway Mail Service" employees that I've communicated with over the years.....I am not sure if it was "official" terminology or not!

    Robin Lowrie
    Stony Plain, Alberta

  • Try this website; http://home.primus.ca/~robkath/railrain.htm

    Nick

  • On the discussion about international RPO's.

    My Uncle worked in the Railway Mail Service about twenty years in British Columbia. One of the runs he handled was the RPO from Blaine Washington to Vancouver, BC.

    US Clerks from Seattle handled the mail car from Seattle to Blaine and the Canadian Clerks from Vancouver took over at Blaine. For those of you in Eastern Canada who may not have been to BC, Blaine is located on the Washington - BC border. These cars ran on the "Internationals" on the Great Northern.

    The RPO's in Canada were owned by the railways and leased by the Post Office Department. I think the same thing applied to the US railways and the US Post Office but I am not sure.

    I only heard the stub end referred to as a compartment when I worked in The Railway Mail Service.

    Bill MacDonald
    former Railway Mail Clerk
    Cal & Van RPO

  • The American crew got off in Blaine and the Canadian crew got on. Going south the Canadian crew handed the car over to the American crew. The car was a Great Northern car. The situation was no different than us handing over the car at Calgary to the Moose Jaw & Calgary crew on the CPR main line.

    The major difference is that the American crew carried revolvers, The Canadian crew did not.

    Bill

  • I believe that RPO cars assigned to such trains as these had "U.S.Mail" lettering on them. I >have seen photos of "Mail & Express" cars with both 30' postal apartments and 15' postal apartments lettered as such. Apparently, our post office did not stipulate such lettering. Also, in case anyone questions my use of the word "apartment" instead of "compartment", I heard this a lot from retired "Railway Mail Service" employees that I've communicated with over the years.....I am not sure if it was "official" terminology or not!

    Robin Lowrie

  • The word 'apartment' in reference to mail sections of RDCs was definitely used in CPR documents like Folio drawings and likely was just carrying through the terminology from the Budd Company. --

    Dale Wilson
    Nickel Belt Rails, Box 483, Station "B", Sudbury, ON, P3E 4P6

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