Norfolk & Western Railway Post Office Car Class M-1 #93

Norfolk and Western Railway Post Office Car Class M-1 #93. .

Manufacturer: Bethlehem Steel Car Company, Wilmington, Delaware, 1937 , Length: 64 feet 5 inches , Trucks: 4-wheel, Roller Bearing

, 93 was one of nine Railway Post Office (RPO) cars purchased by Norfolk and Western (N&W) in 1937 at a cost of $24.597 each. It was sold to the Florida East Coast Railways in 1960-1961 but reacquíred by N&W in 1966. N&W Class M-1 Postal Car 93 was last used in the mid-1960s in Illinois., The 93 was retired from service in 1968 in St. Louis, Missouri, where it had likely been used by the former Wabash Railroad, Wabash was leased by N&W in 1964 and purchased by Norfolk Southern in 1991., Railroads furnished RPO cars as well as space in railroad terminals to the United States Post Office Department. The cars typically traveled with passenger trains and were located close to the engine., Before the 1890s, mail cars had their own distinctive color schemes; later they were painted to match the style of the companies that owned them. By the 1950s, there were 3,200 RPOs in operation. They covered approximately 165,000 miles (93 percent of all long-haul mail) and required around 30,000 rail post office clerks to staff them., A number of factors contributed to the decline of U.S. mail by rail during the 1960s. The introduction of the ZIP Code in 1963, the addition of regional sorting centers, and the growth of airmail all transformed the way mail was processed and delivered. The decline of rail passenger service also contributed to the end of the postal car. US Railway Post Office service ended on June 30, 1977, with the final trip between New York, New York, and Washington, D.C.