Burlington Bulletin. No.B

Burlington Bulletin No.B

Burlington Bulletin Official Publication of the Burlington Route caloenoo AND SOUTHERN No. 8-Second Quarter 1983 Burlington Route Historical Society P0. Box 456, LaGrange, Illinois 60525 An Illinois Not-For-Profit Corporation Directors Anthony E. Doyce, Al Hoffman, James R. Miller, James Sandrin, F. Hol Wagner, Jr. Officers James R. Miller President Dave Sarther Membership Secretary Al Kamm, Jr Recording Secretary A1 Hoffman Treasurer BURLINGTON BULLETIN is published on an irregular schedule and is included with membership in the Burlington Route Historical Society. Regular membership is the society is $30.00 per year, and sustaining membership is $60.00 per year. Single copies and some back issues of the BURLINGTON BULLETIN are available. Dealer inquiries are also invited. B Burlington Bulletin solicits material for publication, scrip both manuscripts and photographs. Materials are stanc submitted with the understanding that no monetary tion. compensation will be paid upon publication. Send relati material for publication to : Editor, Burlington 17111 Bulletin, PO. Box 456, LaGrange, IL 60525. Copyright 1983 by the Burlington Route Historical Society. All rights reserved. F. Hol Wagner, Jr Editor The Otto Perry, Joe Schick and Van Patten photographs used in this issue are from the collection of the Denver Public Library Western History Department (abbreviated DPLWHD in photo credits) and are reproduced with the permission of the library. On the Cover : The cover illustrations depict several aspects of Railway Mail Service on the Burlington. In addition to an RPO cancellation and line drawings of a catcher arm and the nation's first true RPO car, the photos show a mail train catching a pouch on the fly at Sandwich, III., around 1905, and sorting mail in an RPO car on the Chicago-Kansas City run in the 1890's. Note the Pintsch gas lamps and the skylights above them in the roof of the clerestory.- Left, Bernard Corbin collection ; right, BN collection 2 antiiderlicaence Box From the Editor Included in this issue dealing with railway mail service on the Burlington should be a little something for almost everyone. Nearly all periods are dealt with, from 1860 through 1970, and specific subject matter includes equipment, operations, personnel and even RPO postmarks. In addition to numerous exterior and interior views of RPO cars through the years, there are action photos of trains from the steam, motor car and diesel eras. Plans included range from detailed scale drawings to diagrams and cover wooden, steel and stainless steel equipment. Special credit is due to those who provided some of the more vital elements of this issue. The Mobile Post Office Society, headqurtered in Omaha, kindly provided us with the all-time listing of Burlington RPO routes. More data on MPOS can be found on page 17. RPO postmarks come primarily from Gerald Edgar and from my own collection. Society member Bill Glick loaned us a number of RPO car drawings he has made. Due to space limitations, we have reproduced some of the drawings in a rather small size ; the originals are all HO scale and will be the major portion of a book covering Burlington passenger equipment on which Bill is now working. Roster material-data on builders, dates of construction, dates of conversion and dispositions-comes from a car-by-car roster of Q passenger equipment prepared over a period of years by Joe Douda. Without this roster, there would be countless unanswered questions about Burlington passenger equipment. And, of course, Bernard Corbin came up with material unavailable anywhere else. We are particularly honored to be able to publish Bernard's very first railroad photo-a real gem taken in December 1920 in his hometown, New Market, Iowa. By singling out the above individuals, we certainly do not mean to slight any of the others who also contributed invaluable material. Our sincere thanks to all of you. This issue began as a suggestion by Al Hoffman and initially met with some resistance on my part because I didn't feel we would be able to turn up enough material for a thorough coverage of the subject. Material literally came out of the woodwork. For example, after finding drawings of the standard RPO catcher arm, we began looking for companion drawings of a mail crane, but to no avail. Then, while attending the April 30 society meeting in Red Oak, several of us were rummaging through a number of condemned B&B cars in the yard at Pacific Junction when what should appear in a pile of "trash"-you guessed it! The result appears on page 20. Material Wanted We are in search of material of any sort on the following topics for use in future Bulletins : D-4-A and D-4-B 2-8-0's; C&S/FW&D B-4R12-8-0's; Aeolus ; Creston, Iowa ; 9900 ; multi-story depots/division offices at Aurora (Ill. ), Lincoln, McCook, Alliance, Casper and Sheridan ; World War II aircraft parts cars (fuselage containers on flats and "high-cube" wooden boxcars for wings) ; all Burlington E-units ; A-2 4-4-0's, all Burlington business cars ; SD45's 516-530 ; M-4 and M-4-A 2-10-4's ; refrigerator cars, and stock cars. Burlington Bulletin

For current mailing addresses and e-mail address for directors, officers, editors, or coordinators, please check the society web page at : www.burlingtonroute.com, or write us at PO. Box 456, LaGrange, IL 60525. Annual membership in the society is $30 per year. News Spring meet held in Red Oak Over 50 people attended the first spring meeting of the society, held April 30 in Red Oak, Iowa, to honor long-time Q fan and historian Bernard Corbin. Through the day there were railroadiana and model exhibits at the Holiday Inn, a tour of railroad equipment displayed at Dodge Park in Council Bluffs, and perhaps of greatest interest, tours of Corbin's home and famed 0 gauge model railroad. At an evening banquet, Corbin's 76th birthday three days earlier was commemorated with a cake, and the guest of honor was then presented a brass lifetime membership card from BRHS, a plaque from the society in appreciation of his years of effort in collecting, Below : Society members visited railroad exhibits at Dodge Park in Council Bluffs, including Q waycar, K-4 Ten-Wheeler 915 and lounge car Omaha Club.-Hol Wagner Bottom : Members Al Holck (far left) and Al Hoffman (glasses) discuss Holck's Q railroadiana with other attendees. Holck is completing a book on the Burlington's 100 years in Lincoln.-Hol Wagner preserving and publishing Q history, and honorary citizenship from West Chicago, the "home of the Burlington." Following the presentations, John Brunner of Omaha entertained the audience with a Burlington slide presentation covering steam, motor car and diesel operations in the Omaha-Lincoln area. Plans are now being completed for the society's annual meeting, to be held this October in Burlington, Iowa. Below : Rod "Bat" Masterson and Gerald Edgar check out features of one of Masterson's kitbashed Q freight cars. Members Jim Sandrin and Dave Flood also displayed scratchbuilt, kitbashed or superdetailed models.-hol Wagner Bottom : Bernard Corbin poses with plaque presented him by BRHS in appreciation of his efforts in collecting, preserving and publishing 0 photos and data. Flanking Corbin are Hol Wagner (left) and BRHS President Jim Miller.-Al Hoffman Second Quarter 1983 3

Postal workers in Chicago load mail into stainless steel RPO car Silver Post for an overnight run to Omaha on the Fast Mail. - CB&Q photo, State Historical Society of Missouri collection Railway Mail Service on EARLY IN 1859 the Burlington-backed Hannibal & St. Joseph's Railroad succeeded in completing a 206-mile rail connection between its namesake cities, thus linking the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers across the state of Missouri with the nation's furthest westward railhead. The next year an event occurred which brought national prominence to the Hannibal & St. Joe and forever linked the Burlington with the transportation of the U.S. mail. At 12 :20 p.m. on April 4, 1860, a CB&Q train arrived in Quincy from Chicago with the first messenger from the East bringing mail to be turned over to the new Pony Express in St. Joe. Then, as Richard Overton relates in Burlington Route, A History of the Burlington Lines (Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York, 1965) : "Captain Taylor of the Quincy ferry got him across the river in exactly six minutes ; the Quincy and Palmyra Railroad [a subsidiary of the H&StJ] sped him to the junction with the Hannibal and St. Joseph at Palmyra in just twenty-three minutes more. There a special train with a single car was waiting to make the dash westward. Addison Clark was at the throttle of the `Missouri' ; his only instructions were to make a record run that would last 50 years. This he proceeded to do by covering the 192 miles to St. Joseph in a little over four hours ; total time of the messenger from river to river was four hours and fifty-one minutes, including stops. Considering that the Hannibal's roadbed was hardly seasoned, that its rails were light, its grades abrupt, and its curves sharp, it was something of a miracle that the train made it at all. In St. Joseph, an immense crowd was on hand to watch delivery of the mail sacks from the rail vav to the Pony Express rider, who dashed for the ferry and on to his ten-mile stint in the saddle. Nothing could have been done to bring the Hannibal and St. Joseph more into the limelight as the farthest western extension of the nation's rail network." Though the Civil War and completion of the first transcontinental telegraph line abruptly killed the Pony Express in less than two years. 4 the Burlington By Hol Wagner the overland mail to points beyond St. Joseph continued to move west over the Hannibal & St. Joe for transfer to stage coaches at the Missouri River. Unfortunately, as noted above by Professor Overton, the H&StJ was anything but a high speed mainline railroad, and the daily train frequently arrived in St. Joe too late for the overland mail to be sorted in the post office and still make the tight connections with westbound stages, causing a full day's delay in the forwarding of correspondence. One concerned observer of this situation was William A. Davis, a Democrat who served as St. Joseph's postmaster from 1855 until he lost this patronage position with the advent of Lincoln's Republican administration in the spring of 1861. So highly regarded was Davis, however, that his successor, J.L. Bittinger, placed him in charge of the overland mail with the title of assistantt postmaster. Frustrated with the frequent missed connections due to the mail having to be sorted in the St. Joseph post office after its arrival from the east, Davis conceived the idea of sorting the mail in transit on the H&StJ between Quincy and St. Joseph. Davis communicated his idea to Bittinger, who, quite impressed, forwarded it on to Washington on May 23, 1862. The Post Office Department promptly dispatched Special Agent A.B. Waller west to Missouri to determine the idea's practicality. Convinced, Waller recommended the concept be adopted on an experimental basis, and on Jul% 7, 1862, Postmaster General Montgomery Blair ordered the establishment of a railway post office on the Hannibal & St. Joseph. Davis took his plans to Hannibal to see about having the cars specially constructed for the service. He talked with Master Car Builder George Nettleton and Car Repair Superintendent H.C. Whiting at the H&StJ shops, and they agreed that two cars could be easily and quickly built. With the approval of H&StJ General Superintendent Hayward, work on the pair got under way at once. As H.C. Whiting recalled in 1884, "I immediately drew the plans and proceeded to erect the cars, which were... 30 feet long with Burlington Bulletin

side and no end doors. The cases for letters and papers were conveniently arranged, and were nearly as good as the present style of postal car, with the exception of fine finished workmanship, which we wisely omitted until they proved successful. Mr. Davis visited the shops frequently during the construction of the cars and made suggestions from time to time in regard to the design of the several parts of the interior arrangements." But Davis was anxious to get the service started, and, as he told Assistant Postmaster General G. W. McLellan in an Aug. 5, 1862, letter : "Finding that the mail cars had not been arranged according to promises made to Mr. Walter, instead of going to Quincy [to start the service], I proceeded to Hannibal and succeeded in getting the cars temporarily fixed, in which (though with some inconvenience) I think the work can be done until the new cars are ready." But even before the two "temporarily fixed" baggage cars could be sent up to Quincy to be placed in service, Davis himself went to Quincy, determined to begin the great experiment. So it was that on July 28, 1862, the first U.S. mail was sorted in transit. W IL Gordon, who was a train baggageman on the H&StJ, later recalled the inconvenience of that first trip : "I arranged my car for him [Davis] to so distribute the mail by placing, re-arranging my baggage to make room for him so to do : further... I swept the floor of the car, and on that trip he distributed his mail on the floor of the car. Soon after he had a temporary case placed in one end of the car." This latter was one of the cars then being "temporarily fixed" in Hannibal, and as Car Repair Superintendent Whiting remembered, "I put up a counter and temporary case in one end of the baggage car, which was used by either Mr. Davis or -Fred Harvey or John Patton in the first attempt to distribute mail matter in transit." Fred Harvey (yes, the Fred Harvey of Harvey House and Santa Fe dining car fame), John M. Patton and WE. Reeves were U.S. Mail route agents on the H&StJ who became the nation's first RPO clerks when the service began. The problems experienced by the H&StJ in getting the mail across Missouri on time are exemplified by the fact that on the first westbound run, the train-and some accounts say the mail car itselfderailed, delaying arrival of the train in St. Joe. But since the overland mail had been sorted enroute, it was carried directly across the Missouri River to its stage coach connections in plenty of time. The new service was an immediate success. John G. Prosser, a Hannibal & St. Joe baggageman between 1859 and 1862, remembered in 1885 that, "There were many difficulties to be overcome in getting cars properly arranged to facilitate the distribution enroute. The first cars had boxes arranged across one end of the car with names of stations from Hannibal to Saint Joseph painted thereon. This did not satisfy Mr. Davis, as he wished to distribute the immense overland mail before reaching Saint Joseph. So, after a while, cars were sent out from Hannibal which were arranged with distributing boxes at each end of the room ; one end as before for local stations, and the other end for points north, south and west of Saint Joseph. I believe I first suggested to Mr. Davis the idea of having the boxes arranged in oval shape, as being more convenient to distribute, and also as an economy in space, room at that time being an important consideration." The first two all-new RPO cars, H&StJ 1 and 2, were completed by the Hannibal shops in August 1862 and immediately placed in service. The H&StJ roadbed continued to be a problem. Addison Clark, the engineer on that first record-setting Pony Express run back in 1860, recalled in 1905 : "The track on the Hannibal and Saint Joseph was very rough and the cars, being very short, got off the track quite often. Mr. H. W, Farley, the Master Mechanic, put two iron rods along the top of the car for the postal clerks to hang onto while the car was off the track and it proved to be an excellent safety appliance." This initial experimental RPO route lasted only a year or two, however, "on account of having no money to pay the employees, and the Saint Joseph Post Office objecting to have their pay charged to the office when they were running on the road as postal clerks," according to Charles E. Macy, an employee of the St. Joe post office at the time. Consequently, the claim to first official U.S. Mail RPO route goes to the C&NW's Chicago and Clinton, Iowa, route inaugurated on Aug. 28, 1864. In 1867, however, the Quincy, Hannibal and St. Joseph route Second Quarter 1983 This photo, which appeared in a 1929 publication commemorating the 70th anniversary of the H&StJ in Brookfield, Mo., purports to show the first mail car. It might possibly be a latter-day view of one of the temporarily outfitted baggage cars used in July and August 1862, but we are unable to confirm this. - State Historical Society of Missouri collection PNNIe~ Z JUL 28 9 AM 1962 CENTENNIAL OF U. S. MAIL SORTED IN TRANSIT 1862-1962 For the Century of Progress Exposition in 1932-34, the Q decided to build a replica of the first true H&StJ RPO car. The work was done at Aurora and was completed in time for the Exposition's last season, under an AFE dated Feb. 27, 1934. The car used for the project had been built in December 1871 as H&StJ 42' coach D. It subsequently carried this sequence of CB&Q numbers : 90133, 211354 (1904 renumbering), 9004 and 250912 (applied 4/30/29). All but 9004 were company service numbers. As 9004, the coach was used to shuttle cement plant workers to and from their jobs in Hannibal. In rebuilding, the car was stripped to the frame, and 12' was removed from the middle. As rebuilt, the car featured mule hide roofing and yellow paint with gold leaf lettering. After years of display use, it was donated, along with restored 4-4-0 35, to the Patee House Museum in St. Joseph in 1969. Above is the car before rebuilding, seen at Galesburg in 1930 ; below, the replica mail car on display at Des Moines in 1938. - Above, Bernard Corbin ; below, Van Patten photo, DPLWHD 5

was reinstated, becoming the first official RPO route on the Burlington lines. It was followed in 1869 by the connecting Chicago-Quincy route on the Q proper and by a run between Peoria and Burlington. From Burlington's 1866-67 annual report, we learn that in June 186 7 the Q had a total of 88 passenger cars, of which 29 were baggage, mail and express cars. Of these 29, nine were equipped with RPO compartments-five in cars with six-wheel trucks and four in four-wheel-trucked cars-even though the Q had no official RPO routes until 1869. By 1877, RPO routes linked Chicago with Kansas City and Council Bluffs, Council Bluffs with Kansas City, and Peoria with Galesburg (this latter one as the final leg of an Indianapolis-Galesburg route). As the railroad expanded, new RPO routes were added almost as quickly as new passenger train service commenced. In 1884 the Post Office Department felt that the steadily increasing volume of mail across the country, primarily from east to west, had reached the point where the operation of a series of westbound all-mail trains from coast to coast was warranted. Interchange was still in its infancy, so separate but connecting trains would be run on as many roads as necessary to span the country. Since 1875 the New York Central & Hudson River/Lake Shore & Michigan Southern had been operating a Fast Mail train over the New York-Chicago portion, and the Union Pacific/Central Pacific "transcontinental" route was the only logical choice for the western end of the run. And since the UP originated in Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River from Omaha, the Post Office had but to find a road to move the mail from Chicago to Council Bluffs. Postmaster General Walter Q. Gresham, Assistant Postmaster General Frank Hatton and Railway Mail Service Superintendent Captain James E. White canvassed the Chicago roads for a likely candidate. None of the railroads wanted the task, for it seemed all but impossible to take the eastern mail arriving in Chicago at 12 :35 a.m. and forward it to Council Bluffs, some 500 miles distant, in time to connect with the UP mail train departing at 7 :59 p.m. that same day. The monetary incentive offered by the Post Office simply wasn't enough to interest anyone, and the prestige of holding an exclusive contract to move all mail between Chicago and the Missouri River wouldn't pay the bills. The Burlington, as previously noted, was already operating RPO's on the Chicago-Council Bluffs route, but the road just wasn't inter- ested in what the Post Office Department was proposing : an exclusive contract to operate a solid mail train from Chicago to Council Bluffs, 499 miles, six days a week, in just 15 hours and 50 minutes. That's an average speed of 311/2 miles per hour! At that time, Q train No. 1, the Denver and Pacific Express, took 20/2 hours to cover the same route But the Post Office officials persisted. Burlington was their choice for the job, and they kept up the pressure until Q Vice President Thomas Potter finally relented on March 10, 1884, and signed an agreement to operate the train. Queried by Postmaster General Gresham as to when the railroad would be ready to begin service, Potter calmly replied, "Tomorrow morning, General." The very first Fast Mail train left Chicago, as Potter promised, at 3 :00 a.m. the next morning, March 11, 1884. Behind the 4-4-0 on the point were just three cars : one full of mail from New York which had arrived at midnight, a carload of Chicago newspapers, and a business car carrying the Postmaster General, his party and Burlington's Potter. The engineer, a man named Paradise, was instructed to "open her up and get to Aurora as fast as God will let you." He made the 37-mile rune in just 43 minutes, and a tradition was begun. The Fast Mail engendered legends almost from the outset. The Burlington never had a better public relations tool, and the railroad used it wisely. At the time the train was inaugurated, Burlington was just beginning to paint its passenger equipment Pullman green instead of the previously standard yellow. To set the Fast Mail cars apart, the Q followed the precedent set back in 1875 by the New York Central lines and painted the mail cars solid white. The full road name, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, appeared on the letterboards, flanked by the names of the terminal cities, Chicago and Omaha. "The Fast Mail" was lettered centrally on the car sides below the windows, while coats of arms were painted at the outer ends of the sides, representing the states on the Fast Mail's route : Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. (The train always operated through to Omaha, although until 196 7, the RPO actually terminated on the Iowa side of the Missouri River at Council Bluffs.) This striking paint scheme unfortunately lasted only about a dozen years, and by the late 1890's nearly all the cars wore the more sedate Pullman green. Speed was a popular topic of discourse in the late 1800's, and Burlington mesmerized the public with the Fast Mail's dizzying pace. Above, an often-published and heavily retouched view of the Fast Mail with two 60' white RPO cars, taken about 1888. The locomotive, 4-4-0 78, had been built by the Q in 1884 ; it became class A-5 1078 in 1898, was renumbered 462 in 1904 and was retired in 1909. The first mail car is the 908, built at Aurora in April 1884 and apparently wrecked - common fate of many early mail cars - as it was replaced by a second 908 in December 1893. The other car, 914, was built at Aurora in May 1888, became the 2184 in 1904, was converted to baggage car 1321 in 1916 and was finally scrapped at Eola on June 3, 1952. - BN collection At right is white RPO car 907, a sister of the 908 above. This 60'91/2" car was turned out by the Aurora shops in April 1884, a month after the Fast Mail was inaugurated. It became the 2213 in 1904, was converted to baggage-mail car 1815 around 1915, and entered company service as the 250644 in 1930. - BN collection ; original donated in 1932 by Jacob Krill to Aurora Historical Society 6 Burlington Bulletin

Three Belpaire-boilered class M 4-4-0's were built in 1892-93 for service on the Fast Mail. Rogers-built No. 550 was displayed at the Columbian Exposition in 1893 before entering service. As noted in the text below, it was then assigned to Creston and worked the western end of the train's run. Above, it races north from Pacific Jct. to Council Bluffs with a four-car Fast Mail on Sept. 6, 1897. At right, No. 612, the first class M (built at Aurora in 1892), pauses with the Fast Mail at the Galesburg depot for a portrait in 1893. The class M engines were reclassed A-6 in 1898 and joined that year by six identical sisters. But by 1900 their days on the Fast Mail were over. - Both, Bernard Corbin collection No less than 10 times between 1884 and 1897, the schedule of the Fast Mail was shortened, and the public responded with awe. Fast Mail engineers were idolized by a - whole generation of women and youngsters. In the booklet Fast Mail, The First 75 Years, published by the Burlington in 1959, Trains magazine Editor David P. Morgan described the public fascination with the train : Rival roads, jealous of the prestige that went with the mail contract and aware that more and more mail was being moved, began to race the Burlington to Council Bluffs by setting up competitive schedules to win the favor of the Post Office Department. And just as often as the attempt was made, Burlington fought back with faster schedules-and still arrived on time, virtually every time. Iowa newspapers, attuned to the public excitement attached to the Fast Mail, began reporting the train and its exploits in a manner reserved today for moon rockets. On Christmas Eve 1894 the Ottumwa Daily Courier breathlessly reported one speedup in which "when the train reached Chariton it was 19 minutes behind time but began to redeem itself from that point westward. When it reached Creston quite a crowd had gathered at the depot to witness the movement and see how it came out. The stop there consumed one minute and three seconds during which time the mail for that place was delivered and engine 550 with Engineer Kelley at the throttle was hitched on. A pusher helped to give the train momentum and she seemed to be a thing of life as she moved in her onward course. The train scored a minute between Creston and Cromwell making the distance, 6 miles, in as many minutes." As readers clamored for more, eager to champion their own railroad, the press virtually camped on the right of way. There was scorn for a delay, as when the Chicago Record archly noted that "six more minutes were dropped by a bungled job in taking water." Second Quarter 1983 There was sympathy for the victims of speed : "At Biggsville a horse attempted, at the last moment, to cross just ahead of the train. He figured wrongly though, and when last seen he was skimming through space... his spirit had flitted to horse heaven." There was praise and wonderment expressed over the engines : "A large class M never working more smoothly... No. 92 is the regular Fast Mail engine between Ottumwa and Creston and it seemed natural for her to get down to business... She is a perfect model of the locomotive builder's art. Of course, the west enders are doubly proud of her for on her rapidity depends the reputation of the road. She is relied upon to make up any lost time which may be lost on any of the divisions between Chicago and Creston, and she usually does it. " Enthusiasm was rampant in an age wherein the railroad steam locomotive represented man's crowning technical achievement, and it was richly deserved by the Fast Mailand never more so, before or since, than on the climactic night of February 17, 1899. That night the Mail was held in Chicago 1 hour 17 minutes awaiting its connection from New York. Thereupon Burlington managed to cover the 500.2 miles into Council Bluffs in a running time of 524 minutes, excluding stops. Small wonder that in a day when there were sheet-music sales instead of TV programs, Burlington sponsored a popular song entitled "The Fast Mail" and a booklet called "How the 'Greyhounds' of the Burlington Beat the Rising Moon." Small wonder, too, that the train's engineer was included in a boy's book, "Careers of Danger and Daring," or that in years to come people in railroad towns were to say almost reverently of a retired engineman, "He ran the Mail." From the time of the Fast Mail's inauguration in 1884 until the end of Railway Mail Service in the early 1970's, RPO operation 7

Working the Fast Mail These four obviously posed views made by the Burlington in 1900 depict aspects of work aboard the Fast Mail. Clockwise from upper left, the photos show : loading mail sacks into the RPO car ; a clerk holding the catcher arm steady in preparation for catching a mail pouch on the fly ; sorting mail in the Pintsch gas-illuminated car, and two clerks pausing for what was captioned a "midnight snack." A 1902 change in physical requirements for RPO clerks might have adversely affected one of these two snacking clerks, but certainly not the other : The general superintendent of the Railway Mail Service noted of the change that, "...the increase in the requirement in height from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 6 inches and as to weight from 125 to 135 pounds, will give us a class of men much better fitted for the arduous duties of a postal clerk. Experience has shown that men 5 feet 4 inches in height are not tall enough to reach the top boxes in the letter cases in our standard cars, and one whose weight is barely over 125 pounds is not heavy and strong enough to do the heavy lifting sometimes required without becoming too fatigued to continue to work on a long and tiresome run." - BN collection 8

~g U R~\ APR Q 1909 p TR22,~ R. P During the 10-year period from 1891 to 1901, the Burlington regularly used Moguls in passenger service, though generally not on the Fast Mail. Ten-Wheelers and Atlantics eventually supplanted the 2-6-0's, and the Moguls were relegated to lesser service. The top view here is of a day train passing through Sandwich, Ill., around 1895. On the point is H-2 2-6-0 530, a 68"-drivered Rogers product of 1893, similar in many respects to class M 4-4-0 550 turned out by the same builder that same year. A 60' full RPO car and three cars of storage mail, express and baggage trail the Mogul's tender, followed by three coaches. The center view finds B&MR H-4 2-6-0 342 ready to depart Denver Union Station with an eastbound in 1900. Equipped with larger 72" drivers and piston valve cylinders, the 342 was an 1899 Baldwin product that became Q 1228 in 1904. Finally, the bottom photo shows a westbound passenger train on the B&MR in 1900, probably at McCook, Neb. Up front is brand new K-4 4-6-0 27, a product of B&MR's own Havelock shops. In both of these B&MR photos, the first car is a member of the road's rather unusual fleet of 52' full RPO's which, because they had no end doors, featured full length running boards along the bottom edge of the carbody and handrails fastened to the bottom edge of the letterboard, giving it a scalloped appearance. The car in the center view is identifiable as B&MR 70, which was built at St. Joe in October 1888 and became Q 2126 in 1904. It was converted to baggage car 1236 in 1912 and entered non-revenue service on Dec. 21, 1935, as 0 250817. In all three of these photos, the RPO car is immediately behind the locomotive. A 1902 Post Office Department publication notes that : "The department has arranged with many of the larger railroads to have a car between the mail car and the locomotive, which it is hoped will lessen the number of serious accidents, the mail car having in the past been usually next to the tender, thereby receiving the full shock of collision." - Top and center, Bernard Corbin collection ; bottom, Colorado Railroad Museum collection Second Quarter 1983 9

changed very little. Passenger service extensions or cutbacks, frequency of service and competing railroads all influenced the selection and continuation of RPO routes. And the same basic changes in American society which brought about the eventual demise of passenger train service were also responsible for the end of mail transportation and sorting aboard such trains. Shortly after the turn of the century, when RPO service was at its peak, there were some 1,300 routes nationally, with 63 of them on the Burlington. By 1951 the number had dropped to just over 700 routes nationally, with but 29 on the Burlington. As more and more mail-and passengers-moved over the nation's growing network of highways and airways, passenger trains and RPO routes became highly interdependent. Loss of mail contract usually served to kill a marginal passenger train, and of course, discontinuance of a mail-carrying train automatically eliminated an RPO. A sure sign of the changes taking place was the 1949 switch from the long traditional and very specific title, Railway Mail Service, to the generic Postal Transportation Service. By 1961, only 262 RPO routes remained, with a scant 14 on the Q and C&S/FW&D. The Post Office Department, after numerous efficiency studies, had concluded that the country was growing at such a rapid pace that RPO's and their cousins, Highway Post Offices, could not possibly cope with the future. Discontinuances of passenger service in the Sixties became publicized, bitter, even bizarre events. Burlington applied to drop the Lincoln-Billings passenger service, trains 42-43, and the Denver-Billings service, trains 29-30, in March 1967. After ICC hearings, permission was granted to drop trains 29-30 on Aug. 31, 1967, but trains 42-43 were required to remain in service. The Post Office, however, did drop the Middle and Western Division RPO's on trains 42-43 from Alliance to Sheridan (M.D.) and Sheridan to Billings MD.) at this time. Only the Eastern Division between Lincoln and Alliance remained in service, though still as the Lincoln and Billings RPO. The Q continued to refile its discontinuance application, and a bitter battle ensued, with residents of the sparsely populated area served by the train teaming with labor unions and local politicians to put up a surprisingly vocal opposition. In January 1969 the U.S. District Court in Cheyenne issued a temporary restraining order blocking discontinuance of the trains. Then in April the ICC finally granted its approval of the discontinuance, but not while the restraining order was still in effect. Court proceedings dragged on into the summer of 1969. When the court eventually ruled on Aug. 14 that the trains could be dropped immediately, Burlington, after more than two years of fighting, jumped at the order and stopped the trains dead in their tracks. No. 42 had already departed Alliance, so it was stopped at Hemingford, some 18 miles up the line. The passengers and pouch mail were transferred to a bus, and the train was backed to Alliance. So great was the outcry over this literal interpretation of the court ruling that the matter was taken to the U.S. Supreme Court, which immediately issued a 10-day stay order, putting the trains back in service for a final 10 days, but the Eastern Division RPO, dropped on Aug. 14, was not covered by the stay and so did not operate during the trains' final 10 days. When the Supreme Court chose not to consider the case, the trains were dropped when the stay expired. In 1965, the Burlington began its last five years of corporate existence with just 13 RPO routes remaining. Seven of these were discontinued in 1967 alone. By 1970, just one route remained : Chicago & Kansas City, a 466-mile route begun back in 1889. At the end, trains 19 and 20, the Kansas City Zephyr, carried the RPO car, and in the final months the train actually terminated at the North Kansas City freight yard rather than operating all the way into Union Station. The trains and the RPO both survived the Burlington Northern merger of March 2, 1970, but the 107-year history of in-transit mail sorting on the Burlington drew to a close on July 10, 1970, when the Post Office Department discontinued the route. The Last Five Years RPO Route Discontinuances : 1965-1970 1965 Alliance & Casper disc. July 31 Lincoln & Billings MD and WD disc. July 31 1966 Chicago & Council Bluffs c hg. t o Chicago & Omaha, April 23 Council Bluffs & Kansas City c hg. to Omaha & Kansas City, April 23 1967 Denver & Amarillo disc. March 31 Amarillo & Ft. Worth disc. March 31 Burlington & St. Louis disc. April 7 Alliance & Denver disc. July 7 Billings & Denver ND and SD disc. Sept. 1 Chicago, Savanna & Minneapolis disc. Sept. 2 Omaha & Denver disc. Oct. 12 1968 Omaha & Kansas City disc. Jan. 12 1969 Chicago & Omaha disc. June 27 /U' T11 '2 ' I-% 400MUNN Lincoln & Billings ED disc. Aug. 14 1970 Chicago & Kansas City disc. July 10 PTS A Texas-bound C&S passenger train highballs south out of Denver at 55 mph behind C-3H Ten-Wheeler 324 on June 23, 1922. The C&S and FW&D had a penchant for combination RPO-coaches, owning a total of 28 such cars (including two on the Wichita Valley), while parent CB&Q rostered but 16. This configuration had the effect of forcing the RPO car back next to the passenger-carrying cars and away from the locomotive, accomplishing just what the Post Office Department wanted. Here the car behind the baggage car is a 60' RPO-coach from C&S series 328-331. - Otto Perry photo, DPLWHD 10 Burlington Bulletin

Postal regulations requiring all-steel construction of RPO cars brought about consists by the 1920's which saw steel mail cars frequently trailed by wooden baggage cars and coaches. A Twin Cities train leaves Chicago around 1925 behind S-2 2942. A 1910-series steel baggage-mail car is followed by a steelsheathed wooden baggage-dynamo car and a mixture of wooden and steel coaches. Note the steel diner in the coachyard.-hol Wagner collection. A 60' full mail car and a combination baggage-mail car, both with mail catcher arms ready, trail S-1 Pacific 2810 on train No. 9, the Colorado Limited, as it nears Denver on the morning of Jan. 2, 1928, with eight cars at a leisurely 30 mph. The advent of steel mail cars allowed them to once again be safely placed immediately behind the locomotive. -Otto Perry photo, DPLWHD This common occurence in thediesel era was unusual in steam days : two complete passenger trains combined for a portion of their run. In this case, a pair of Atlantics, the 2571 and 2564, leave Alliance, Neb., with combined trains 303 and 31 on July 5, 1931. At Northport, 37 miles south of Alliance, the trains will split ; 303, with its Alliance & Denver RPO, will continue on south to Denver, while 31, carrying an Alliance & Casper RPO, will turn west and head for central Wyoming.-Otto Perry photo, DPLWHD Four years later, this is what train 31 looked like as it approached Casper, through the oil refineries of Evansville. Behind S-1-A 2814 is an 1889-series 60' baggage-mail car converted from one of the early 2300-series steel RPO cars built for the Q in 1914.-Otto Perry photo, DPLWHD Second Quarter 1983 11

Gas-electric and later diesel-electric motor cars prolonged the lives of many local passenger trains, and with them, many RPO routes. Burlington operated more motorcars than any other road, and this view is typical of most of the runs. Car 9845 pauses for mail and passengers at Maryville, Mo., while operating as train No. 30 between Creston, Iowa, and St. Joseph on Sept. 24, 1957. The Creston & St. Joseph RPO route was operated continuously from 1882 until 1959.-Charles Zeiler collection All the western subsidiary roads operated motor car RPO's. At left is C&S 401 running as train 31 north of Fort Collins, Colo., on June 2, 1935, with the Billings & Denver Southern Division RPO. At right is Burlington-Rock Island 63 at Dallas Union Station in 1940, just in from Houston with the Dallas, Waxahachie & Houston RPO. - Left, Otto Perry photo, DPLWHD ; right, Everett DeGolyer, Jr., photo, Hol Wagner collection & G q < Q TR 56 N JUN 30 1960 R-P.o-" -., 5T. v0 v TR 41-16 Z FEB24 U 1962 R P. p. The last motor car RPO run in the country was on the O in the form of trains 15-42 and 41-16 between Lincoln and St. Joseph. The classy consist normally included silver motor car 9767 (with a large 30' RPO compartment) and chair car Silver Pendulum. Shown here at Lincoln on Dec. 4, 1960, the motor car made its last run a year later on Dec. 28, 1961, although the train and RPO route lasted into early 1962.-Bernard Corbin The Peoria & Galesburg RPO route ran from 1882 to 1897, from 1906 to 1911, from 1918 to 1921 and finally between 1948 and 1960 as a motor car run. Here motor 9772 and trailer, operating as train No. 56, sit at the Peoria depot on May 27, 1958.-Dick Wallin collection

Of the early shovelnose Zephyr trains, only the 9900 and 9903 had RPO compartments in the actual power unit. Other Zephyrs had mail compartments in trailing ars, except for the Twin Cities Zephyrs, which never carried RPO's since Milwaukee Road had the high-speed Chicago-Minneapolis mail contract. The Pioneer Zephyr's most famous RPO route was its first one, between Council Bluffs and Kansas City, although the train later ran on a number of other routes. Above, with catcher arm plainly visible on the RPO compartment door, 9900 arrives in Kansas City as train No. 20 on a chilly Jan. 18, 1936. At right, 9900's RPO compartment is not much different han compartments in cars of 50 years earlier.-above, Otto Perry photo, DPLWHD ; right, Hol Wagner P191~: 0 1 eau FFS&~ r~ 2 0 m DEC.., `~ 19 3 9 R p0 Last shovelnose unit in service, and consequently the last to hold down an RPO run, was the 9908. After being bumped from Lincoln-St. Joe service by motor car 9767, it moved east to the local run between Burlington and St. Louis until the trains were discontinued. Here it appears with a 1910- series heavyweight baggage-mail car on train No. 1 near Hannibal in August 1961. The last run (see cancellation) was made on April 27, 1963.-Dick Wallin Catching mail on the move has always been one of the most fascinating aspects of RPO service. Here the Denver Zephyr flies east through Brush, Colo., at 80 mph on June 11, 1939. A mail pouch has just been snatched from the trackside crane and is visible in the RPO's catcher arm. - Joe Schick photo, DPLWHD I 13

Lincoln-Billings train No. 43 and Alliance-Casper train No. 31 load mail and passengers at the Alliance depot one August morning in 1964. No. 31 was discontinued in 1965, but No. 43, renumbered 41 in 1968, lasted until Aug. 14, 1969, becoming the most notorious service discontinuance in Q history.-hol Wagner Besides Chicago-Omaha Fast Mail service, for years there was a Chicago-Denver mail run which was anything but fast. Trains 7-8 made virtually all the local stops on their 1,000-mile journey and encompassed two RPO routes : Chicago & Council Bluffs and Omaha & Denver. Here, a lengthy No. 7 pulls into Denver on the morning of Sept. 9, 1951, behind a pair of ETs.-R. E. Andrews photo, Hol Wagner collection Mail trains most frequently made nocturnal departures from their terminals, waiting until the day's mail had been assembled for transit. In this view, an unusual phenomenon finds E8 99398's numberboard reflected by the camera lens and seemingly projected in the sky above in this December 1961 view of a much smaller No. 8 being readied for departure from Denver Union Station.-Ken Crist photo, Hol Wagner collection 14 Last mail service on the western half of the original RPO route was this Brookfield-St. Joe local, seen at Chillicothe, Mo., in August 1958, a year before the run was discontinued. The interesting consist includes E7 9919B, a 1910-series baggage-rpo and experimental chair car Silver Pendulum.-Dick Wallin collection Burlington Bulletin

Burlington RPO Routes : 1867-1970 1867-1869 Quincy, Hannibal & St. Joseph 1869-1872 Quincy & St. Joseph (H&StJ) 1869-1877, 1884-1889 Chicago & Quincy 1869-1877 Peoria & Burlington 1870-1871 St. Joseph & Council Bluffs (KCStJ&CB) 1871-1878 Kansas City & Council Bluffs (KCStJ&CB) 1871-1878, 1882-1898 Burlington & Council Bluffs 1872-1880, 1882-1883, 1884-1889 Quincy & Kansas City (H&StJ) 1874-1877 Indianapolis & Galesburg (CB&Q and Galesburg only) 1877-1898 Chicago & Burlington 1877-1881, 1882-1883 1879-1888 1879-1881 1880-1882 1881-1884 1881-1953 1882-1948 1882-1897, 1906-1911, 1918-1921, 1948-1960 1882-1884 1882-1888 1882-1883, 1884-1889 1882-1883, 1884-1894 1882-1886 1882-1893, 1905-1917 1882-1883 1882-1883, 1912-1915, 1915-1915, 1916-1933 1882-1882 1882-1917, 1919-1920 Peoria & Galesburg Galva [III.] & Keithsburg [III.] Aurora [III.] & Forreston [III.] Buda [III.] & Yates City [III.] Yates City [III.] & Rushville [III.] Shabbona [III.] & Rock Falls [III.] (H&StJ) Sterling [III.] & Rock Island [III.] Litchfield [III.] & Jacksonville [III.] (J&StL) between Peoria Galesburg & Quincy Chicago, Forreston [III.] & Dubuque [Ia.] (C&I) Omaha & Kearney Jct. [Neb.] (B&MR) Chicago & Cameron [Mo.] Omaha & Hastings [Neb.] (B&MR) Burlington & Quincy Chicago & Streator [III.] CJ AUG f 0 19 _. TFt49 r 19 08 '~. P, Mendota [III.] & Clinton [Ia.] London Mills [111.] & Havana [I11.] (FCNG-3' gauge) Galesburg & Havana [I11.] (FCNG-3' gauge until 1905) 1882-1917, 1918-1935, 1944-1961 Rock Island [III.] & St. Louis 1882-1917 Quincy & Louisiana [Mo.] 1882-1897 Quincy & Trenton [Mo.] 1882-1882 Bethany Jct. [Mo.] & Albany [Mo.] 1882-1899 Bethany Jct. [Mo.] & Grant City [Mo.] 1882-1885, 1887-1888 Albany [Mo.] & St. Joseph (StJ&DM-3' gauge until 1885) 1882-1882 Chariton [Ia.] & Grant City [Mo.] 1882-1885, 1887-1888 1882-1959 1882-1885 1882-1966 1882-1883 1882-1884 1882-1889,?? -1892, 1915-1917 1882-1883 1882-1884 1882-1917 1882-1897, 1906-1921, 1922-1927 1882-1883, 1945-1948 Second quarter 1983 Chariton [Ia.] & Albany [Mo.] Creston [Ia.] & St. Joseph Cameron [Mo.], St. Joseph & Atchison [Kan.] Council Bluffs & Kansas City Keokuk [Ia.] & St. Louis Burlington & LaClede [Mo.] Villisca [Ia.] & Bigelow [Mo.] Burlington & Keokuk [Ia.] Keokuk [Ia.] & Albia [Ia.] Mt. Pleasant [la.] & Keokuk [Ia.] Des Moines & Albia [Ia.] Des Moines & Osceola [Ia.] (DMO&S-3' gauge until 1897) F rx TR 20 1- APR 2 3 n 1966 R. P. O 1882-1883, 1905-1917, 1934-1936 1882-1883 1882-1893 1882-1885, 1885-1886 1882-1885, 1887-1888, 1890-1892,?? -1917 1882-1887 1882-1882 1882-1884 1882-1883 1882-1890, 1893-1900 1882-1884, 1884-1888 1882-1883 1883-1884, 1894-1933 1883-1912 1883-1883 1883-1888, 1898-1907 1883-1884 Galesburg & Kansas City 1883-1967 Burlington & St. Louis 1883-1901 Humeston [la.] & Shenandoah [Ia.] 1883-1898, 1929-1930 Clarinda [Ia.] & Corning [Ia.] 1883-1884, 1884-1884 1883-1885 1883-1884 1883-1889 1883-1884 1883-1884 Burlington & Brighton [Ia.] (B&NW-3' gauge) Des Moines & Decatur [Ia.] (DMO&S-3' gauge) Central City [Neb.] & Nebraska City [Neb.] (B&MR) Nebraska City [Neb.] & Beatrice [Neb.] (B&MR) Hastings [Neb.] & Kearney [Neb.] (B&MR) Hastings [Neb.] & McCook [Neb.] (B&MR via Red Cloud) 1884-1903, 1917-1923 Galva [III.] & Burlington 1884-1885 Burlington & Bogard [Mo.] 1884-1884, 1884-1903 Burlington & Oskaloosa [Ia.] (B&W- 3' gauge until 1902) 1884-1885, 1885-1886, 1951-1953 Keokuk [Ia.] & Centerville [Ia.] DEC 28 1953 A. P,0 1884-1886 Nebraska City [Neb.] & Grand Island [Neb.] (B&MR) 1884-1884 Crete [Neb.] & Oxford [Neb.] (B&MR) 1884-1888 Table Rock [Neb.] & Concordia [Kan.] (B&MR) 1884-1884, 1887-1892 Burlington & Washington [Ia.] (B&NW-3' gauge until 1902) Winfield [Ia.] & Martinsburg [Ia.] (B&W-3' gauge) Fort Madison [Ia.] & Birmingham [Ia.] (FtM&NW/CFtM&DM-3' gauge until 1891) Centerville [Ia.] & Humeston [Ia.] Indianola [Ia.] & Chariton [Ia.] Red Oak [Ia.] & Eastport [Ia.] Central City [Neb.] & Calvert [Neb.] (B&MR) Central City [Neb.] & Nebraska City [Neb.] (B&MR) Nebraska City [Neb.] & Tecumseh [Neb.] (B&MR) Columbus [Neb.] & Atchison [Kan.] (B&MR) Crete [Neb.] & Red Cloud [Neb.] (B&MR) Hastings [Neb.] & Culbertson [Neb.] (B&MR via Red Cloud) Buda [III.] & Rushville [I11.] Mendota [111.] & Fulton [111.] Jacksonville [111.] & Smithboro [III.] (J&StL) Jacksonville [III.] & Centralia [III.] (J&StL) Omaha & McCook [Neb.] (B&MR-via Red Cloud in 1884) 1884-1884 Omaha, Red Cloud [Neb.] & McCook [Neb.] (B&MR) 1884-1887 Omaha, Kenesaw [Neb.] & McCook [Neb.] (B&MR) 1884-1885, 1885-1886, 1951-1953 Keokuk [Ia.] & Centerville [Ia.] 1884-1886 Nebraska City [Neb.] & Grand Island [Neb.] (B&MR) 1884-1884 Crete [Neb.] & Oxford [Neb.] (B&MR) 1884-1888 Table Rock [Neb.] & Concordia [Kan.] (B&MR) 1884-1884, 1887-1892 Omaha & McCook [Neb.] (B&MR-via Red Cloud in 1884) 1884-1884 Omaha, Red Cloud [Neb.] & McCook [Neb.] (B&MR) 1884-1887 Omaha, Kenesaw [Neb.] & McCook [Neb.] (B&MR) 1884-1898 Pacific Jct. [Ia.] & McCook [Neb.] (B&MR-via Red Cloud until 1887) 1884-1898 McCook [Neb.] & Denver (B&MR) 1885-1949 Burlington & Carrollton [Mo.] 1885-1887, 1888-1890 Des Moines & St. Joseph W TR 2 & s. P. o 15

1885-1892, 1901-1933 Des Moines & Cainsville [Mo.] (DMO&S-3' gauge until 1897) 1885-1935 Creston [Ia.] & Cumberland [Ia.] 1885-1885, 1886-1896, 1945-1951 Keokuk [Ia.] & Humeston [Ia.] 1885-1894 Cameron [Mo.] & Atchison [Kan.] 1885-1885, 1896-1916 Lyons [Colo.] & Denver (DU&P-3' gauge until 1889) 1886-1917 Shabbona [III.] & Sterling [III.] 1886-1888 Nebraska City [Neb.] & Broken Bow [Neb.] (B&MR) 1886-1887, 1887-1888, 1892-1899 1887-1887 1887-1888 1887-1888, 1913-1936 1887-1888 1887-1902, 1904-1935 1887-1893, 1897-1904 1887-1888 1887-1888 1887-1888 1887-1887 1887-1888, 1888-1900 1888-1891 1888-1891 1888-1913, 1936-1940 1888-1889 1888-1888 1888-1888 1888-1902 1888-1888 1888-1888 1888-1890, 1894-1902 1888-1889 1888-1893, 1897-1941 1888-1889, 1895-1900 1888-1901, 1934-1950 1888-1892, 1895-1898, 1900-1916, 1919-1919 1889-1970 1889-1894 1889-??, 1892-1933, 1938-1940 1889-1905 1889-1891 1889-1889 1889-1895 1890-1894 1890-1897, 1900-1951 1890-1931 1890-1892 1890-1893 1891-1892 1891-1892 1891-1895 1891-1901, 1905-1917 1892-1918 1892-1896 1892-1894 1892-1895 1893-1901 1893-1939 16 Hastings [Neb.] & Oberlin [Kan.] (B&MR) St. Paul & Savanna [III.] (CB&N) Minneapolis & Savanna [III.] (CB&N) Red Oak [la.] & Nebraska City [Neb.] Stromsburg [Neb.] & Fairfield [Neb.] (KC&O) Fairmont [Neb.] & Chester [Neb.] (B&MR) Aurora [Neb.] & Arcadia [Neb.] (B&MR) Dewitt [Neb.] & Superior [Neb.] (B&MR) Edgar [Neb.] & Curtis [Neb.] (B&MR) Orleans [Neb.] & Blakeman [Neb.] (B&MR) Red Cloud [Neb.] & Oberlin [Kan.] (B&MR) Kansas City & Oxford [Neb.] (KCStJ&CB/B&MR) Chicago & Forreston [111.1 Minneapolis & Oregon [III.] (CB&N) Red Oak [Ia.] & Lincoln Pacific Jct. [Ia.] & Schuyler [Neb.] (B&MR) Nebraska City [Neb.] & Whitman [Neb.] (B&MR) Stromsburg [Neb.] & Fairbury [Neb.] (KC&O) McCool Jct. [Neb.] & Fairbury [Neb.] (KC&O) McCool Jct. [Neb.] & Alma [Neb.] (KC&O) Niota [Neb.] & Alma [Neb.] (B&MR) Lincoln & Alma [Neb.] (B&MR) Lincoln & Alliance [Neb.] (B&MR) Palmer [Neb.] & Burwell [Neb.] (B&MR) Edgar [Neb.] & Sterling [Colo.] (B&MR) Lincoln & Concordia [Kan.] (B&MR) Orleans [Neb.] & St. Francis [Kan.] (B&MR) Chicago & Kansas City Buda [111.] & Canton [III.] All U v Villisca [Ia.] & St. Joseph Plattsmouth [Neb.] & Schuyler [Neb.] (B&MR) Lincoln & Crawford [Neb.] (B&MR) Edgar [Neb.] & Cheyenne [Wyo.] (B&MR) Nebraska City [Neb.] & Cheyenne [Wyo.] (B&MR) Peoria & St. Louis '61 OEN MAY TR.3 a WW.I'D ' Ud 0 TR 35 OCT S 1967 R.P.o Chariton [Ia.] & St. Joseph Sioux City [Ia.] & O'Neill [Neb.] (SC&W) Valley [Neb.] & Alma [Neb.] (B&MR) Columbus [Neb.] & Kansas City (B&MR/KCStJ&CB) Chicago, Oregon [III.] & Dubuque [Ia.] Minneapolis & East Dubuque [III.] Lincoln & Deadwood [S.D.] (B&MR) Aurora [Neb.] & Kearney [Neb.] (B&MR) Chicago, Oregon [III.] & Minneapolis Des Moines & Leon [Ia.] (DMO&S-3' gauge) Valparaiso [Neb.] & Alma [Neb.] (B&MR) Republican City [Neb.] & St. Francis [Kan.] (B&MR) Savanna [III.] & Rock Island [III.] Fort Madison [Ia.] & Ottumwa [Ia.] id 1893-1896, 1898-1916 McCook [Neb.] & Imperial [Neb.] (B&MR) 1893-1897 Aurora [Neb.] & Burwell [Neb.] (B&MR) 1893-1897 Palmer [Neb.] & Arcadia [Neb.] (B&MR) 1893-1895 Edgemont [S.D.] & Sheridan [Wyo.] (B&MR) 1894-1898 Cameron [Mo.] & Leavenworth [Kan.] 1895-1900 Nebraska City [Neb.] & Superior [Neb.] (B&MR) 1895-1896 Lincoln & Sheridan [Wyo.] (B&MR) 1895-1946, 1947-1949 1896-1901 1896-1969 1897-1906, 1921-1922, 1930-1948 1897-1901 1897-1912 1897-1901 1898-1918 1898-1966 1898-1915, 1917-1929, 1930-1933 1898-1901 1898-1905, 1905-1917 1898-1908 1898-1900 1899-1900, 1901-1904, 1929-1930, 1941-1949 1899-1900 1900-1958 1900-1953 1900-1903, 1903-1950 1900-1935 1900-1900, 1904-1905, 1905-1917 1900-1904, 1905-1909, 1911-1916 1901-1905 1901-1917 1901-1939 1901-1914 1901-1907, 1917-1924 1902-1904 1902-1906 1902-1906 1903-1917, 1923-1952 1903-1906 1903-1903 1904-1920 1904-1919 1904-1935 1904-1912 1904-1907 1904-1941 1904-1904 1904-1905 1904-1917 1904-1905, 1909-1911 1905-1945 1905-1967 1906-1906 1906-1931, 1942-1950 1906-1917 1906-1908 1907-1909 1907-1917 1907-1917, 1930-1931 1908-1967 Deadwood [S.D.] & Edgemont [S.D.] (B&MR) Keokuk [Ia.], Humeston [Ia.] & Des Moine Lincoln & Billings [Mont.] (B&MR) Peoria & Des Moines i IJ1Z ~ Quincy & Council Bluffs [Ia.] ~> T R 4 1 O Chariton [[a.] & Kansas City Van Wert [Ia.] & Gainesville [Ia.] (DM&KC ; Chicago, Aurora [III.] & Rockford [III.] Chicago & Council Bluffs [Ia.] Clarinda [Ia.] & Bigelow [Mo.] Pattonsburg [Mo.] & Kansas City Cameron [Mo.] & Kansas City Pacific Jct. [Ia.] & Denver (B&MR) Orleans [Neb.] & Atwood [Kan.] (B&MR) Galesburg & Rushville [III.] (via Rio) Leon [Mo.] & Grant City [Mo.] Lincoln & Kansas City Columbus [Neb.] & Lincoln Holdrege [Neb.] & Sterling [Colo.] St. Joseph & Oxford [Neb.] Rulo [Neb.] & Atchison [Kan.] Alliance [Neb.] & Guernsey [Wyo.] Sterling [III :] & Davenport []a.] Keokuk [Ia.] & Red Oak [Ia.] Quincy & Kansas City Omaha & Concordia [Kan.] Sutton [Neb.] & Alma [Neb.] Stromsburg [Neb.] & Chester [Neb.]. Fairmont [Neb.] & Fairbury [Neb.] Toluca [Mont.) & Cody [Wyo.] Galesburg & Burlington Burlington & Des Moines Holdrege [Neb.] & Holyoke [Colo.] Galesburg & Rushville [III.] (via Yates City) Streator [III.] & Walnut [III.] St. Louis & St. Joseph Diff [Mo.] & Elmer [Mo.] Stromsburg [Neb.] & Sutton [Neb.] Aurora [Neb.] & Sargent [Neb.] Alliance [Neb.] & Sidney [Neb.] Alliance [Neb.] & Brush [Colo.] Carson [Neb.] & Sidney [Neb.] Bridgeport [Neb.] & Guernsey [Wyo.] Omaha & Schuyler [Neb.] Alliance [Neb.] & Denver Sioux City [Ia.] & Ashland [Neb.] Sioux City [Ia.] & Lincoln Fairmont [Neb.] & Endicott [Neb.] Toluca [Mont.] & Worland [Wyo.] Jacksonville [III.] & Herrin [III.] Monroe [Mo.] & Mexico [Mo.] Stromsburg [Neb.] & Alma [Neb.] Omaha & Denver ~0\ L L ~~ Burlington Bulletin S E P tp

1908-1910 Toluca [Mont.] & Kirby [Wyo.] 1908-1916 Frannie [Wyo.] & Cody [Wyo.] 1909-1915, 1924-1928 Concord [III.] & Herrin [III.] 1910-1910 Billings [Mont.] & Kirby [Wyo.] 1910-1914 Billings [Mont.] & Thermopolis [Wyo.] 1911-1917 Peoria & Quincy 1911-1935 Sterling [Colo.] & Cheyenne [Wyo.] 1912-1917 Sedan [la.] & Elmer [Mo.] 1912-1922 Chariton [Ia.] & Bethany [Mo.] & St. Joseph 1913-1924 Lincoln & Falls City [Neb.] 1914-1934 Omaha & Wymore [Neb.] 1914-1934, 1950-1951 1914-1967 1915-1915, 1915-1916 1915-1924 1916-1919, 1919-1950 1916-1920, 1922-1965 1917-1918, 1923-1924 1917-1918, 1922-1930 1917-1945 1918-1948 1918-1952 1918-1935, 1944-1952 1919-1933 1920-1922 1920-1930 1920-1929, 1930-1933 Wymore [Neb.] & Concordia [Kan.] Billings [Mont.] & Denver Aurora [III.] & Clinton [Ia.] Concord [III.] & Centralia [111.] Oxford [Neb.] & St. Francis [Kan.] Alliance [Neb.] & Casper [Wyo.] Savanna [III.] & St. Louis Peoria & Creston [la.] Keokuk [Ia.] & Shenandoah [Ia.] Chicago & Rockford [III.] Chicago & Savanna [III.] Minneapolis & Rock Island [III.] Streator [III.] & Denrock [111.] Galesburg & Vermont [III.] (via Yates City) Galesburg & Lewistown [111.] Galesburg & Vermont [III.] (via Rio) O TR 29 i AUG 3 I A 1967 0, 1927-1930, 1948-1953 Des Moines & Ottumwa [Ia.) 1928-1956 Beardstown [III.] & Herrin [III.] 1929-1936 Nebraska City [Neb.] & Lincoln 1929-1930, 1931-1935 Stromsburg [Neb.] & Hastings [Neb.] 1929-1930 Hastings [Neb.] & Alma [Neb.] 1931-1934 Burlington, Washington [Ia.] & Oskaloosa [Ia.] 1931-1942 Lincoln & O'Neill [Neb.] 1933-1939 Buda [III.] & Peoria 1933-1935 Rock Island [III.] & Rushville [III.] 1933-1937 Streator [III.], Mendota [III.] & Clinton [Ia.] 1933-1935 Des Moines & Van Wert [Ia.] 1933-1945 Des Moines & Weldon [Ia.] 1933-1938 Villisca [Ia.] & Corning [Ia.] 1933-1938 Villisca [Ia.] & Napier [Mo.] 1934-1959 Cameron Jct. [Mo.] & St. Joseph 1934-1935 Ashland [Neb.] & Schuyler [Neb.] 1935-1944 Minneapolis & St. Louis 1935-1941 Davenport [Ia.] & Rushville [III.] 1935-1950 Table Rock [Neb.] & Oxford [Neb.] 1937-1947 Streator [Ill.] & Clinton [Ia.] 1938-1941 Beatrice [Neb.] & Holdrege [Neb.] 1939-1950 Quincy & Milan [Mo.] 1940-1949 Red Oak [Ia.] & Hamburg [Ia.) 1946-1947 Deadwood [S.D.] & Alliance [Neb.) 1948-1951 Chicago & Zearing [III.] 1949-1950 Burlington & Centerville [Ia.] 1950-1953 Quincy & Kirksville [Mo.] 1950-1958 Wymore [Neb.] & Oxford [Neb.] 1952-1967 Chicago, Savanna [III.] & Minneapolis 1953-1953 West Quincy [Mo.] & Kirksville [Mo.] 1953-1955 Burlington & West Quincy [Mo.] 1958-1962 Lincoln & St. Joseph 1966-1969 Chicago & Omaha 1966-1968 Omaha & Kansas City Colorado & Southern/Fort Worth & Denver (Including Wichita Valley and Trinity & Brazos Valley/Burlington-Rock Island] 1882-1882 Cheyenne, Boulder [Colo.] & Denver (CC) 1882-1886 Fort Collins [Colo.] & Denver (CC) 1882-1884, Denver & Leadvilie [Colo.] (3' gauge-dsp&p/dl&g 1885-1937 until 1898) 1882-1893 Denver & Georgetown [Colo.] (CC-3' gauge) 1882-1886 Wichita Falls [Tex.] & Fort Worth 1883-1884 Buena Vista [Colo.] & Gunnison [Colo.] (DSP&P) 1883-1888, 1903-1904 Denver & Pueblo [Colo.] (D&NO/DT&G until 1898) 1884-1887 Como [Colo.] & Gunnison [Colo.] (DSP&P/DL&G-3' gauge) 1886-1886 Harold [Tex.] & Fort Worth 1886-1887 Vernon [Tex.] & Fort Worth 1887-1888 Quanah [Tex.] & Fort Worth 1888-1888, 1902-1903 Clarendon [Tex.] & Fort Worth 1888-1902, 1936-1944 Denver & Fort Worth 1888-1891 Wendover [Wyo.] & Cheyenne (C&N/UPD&G) 1891-1892 Douglas [Wyo.] & Cheyenne (UPD&G, Wendover to Cheyenne) 1892-1895 Orin Jct. [Wyo.] & Cheyenne (UPD&G) 1893-1897, 1900-1927 Denver & Silver Plume [Colo.] (UPD&G until 1898) (3' gauge) 1895-1914 1901-1912 1902-1903 1903-1904 1903-1936, Orin [Wyo.] & Cheyenne (UPD&G until 1898) Denver & Colorado Springs Denver & Clarendon [Tex.] Pueblo [Colo.] & Amarillo [Tex.] 1944-1967 Amarillo [Tex.] & Fort Worth 1904-1936, 1944-1967 Denver & Amarillo [Tex.] 1904-1907 Cleburne [Tex.] & Mexia [Tex.] 1906-1907 Byers [Tex.] & Seymour [Tex.] 1907-1914 Fort Worth, Teague [Tex.] & Houston 1907-1917 Wichita Falls [Tex.] & Abilene [Tex.) 1910-1938 Stamford [Tex.] & Spur [Tex.] 1912-1914 Cheyenne & Fort Collins [Colo.] 1913-1917 Denver & Falcon [Colo.] 1914-1935 Cleburne [Tex.] & Houston 1917-1931 Denver & Como [Colo.] (3' gauge) 1929-1950 Childress [Tex.] & Lubbock [Tex.] 1935-1952 Dallas, Waxahachie [Tex.] & Houston 1938-1949 Stamford [Tex.] & Lubbock [Tex.] (WV, Spur) Teague [Tex.] & Houston Waxahachie [Tex.] & Houston Q P 2 a 1950? R, P.0 Stamford to Data for this all-time listing of Burlington RPO routes was provided by the Mobile Post Office Society, a non-profit corporation devoted to the interests of collectors of covers, cachets, postmarks, history and data of transit markings of all kinds, including railway, highway and waterway. The society, which is affiliate No. 64 of the American Philatelic Society, is headquartered in Omaha under the able direction of Edwin R Bergman. a former Union Pacific RPO clerk. With over 600 members, MPOS publishes the bi-monthly Transit Postmark Collector covering society news and articles of interest. The society also publishes books and monographs relative to the interests of the members. Three forms of membership are available : Regular, at $6.00 per year plus a $1.00 initiation fee; Sustaining, at $15.00 per year and including two free paperbound monographs each year ; and Patron, at $50.00 per year and including all paperbound monographs published during the year and a 40% discount on any hardbound publications. Contact MPOS in care of Edwin P. Bergman, Secretary, 5030 Aspen Drive, Omaha, Nebraska 68157. Second Quarter 1983 17

The Fast Mail at age 75 Excerpted from Fast Mail: Th e First 75 Years by David P. Morgan, published by the Burlington in 1959 on the 75th anniversary of the Fast Mail E VERY EVENING at nine o'clock an ancient, honorable, unsung ritual takes place a few hundred feet beyond the concourse and gates of [Chicago] Union Station, along a track that passengers never ride, in the basement of the largest building of its kind in the world. The ritual involves two organizations, one public and the other private. The party of the first part is the United States Post Office Department ; the party of the second part, the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. These two institutions forgather under the lights of track 30, on a concrete loading dock stacked with locked canvas sacks and alert to the activity of men in khaki work clothes with little silver badges. And there each night at 9 the P.O. and the CB&Q renew an historic agreement. The government entrusts the railroad with a solid train of mail, and the railroad undertakes to move it west to the Missouri River-dependably, rapidly, on time. For all its want of ceremony, this ritual is now in its third generation. It has survived three international wars, outlived the station in which it was born and the steam locomotion that made it possible, matched the sternest competition, and accommodated immense increases in loadings. This is train No. 29, the train that doesn't appear in the familiar red Burlington timetable, the train of somber, businesslike cars that seem at home in the shadows, the train nevertheless with a name : Fast Mail. It is just that. Its doors are open to anything that bears postage, from a post card to a package-that and that alone. All the personnel aboard are there to work. This includes seven or more Postal Transportation Service clerks for the P.O. and the engine crew and three trainmen for the railroad. No. 29 is important but unadorned, without a trace of the glamour of Vista-Domes and stainless steel, pretty dresses, silverware and window drapes of the Kansas City Zephyr arriving across the way in Union Station. The men who sponsor and operate train 29 don't give a fig for frills, only performance. The performance begins early in the evening when a yard engine spots the storage mail cars and Railway Post Office car on track 30 and the loading begins for the West-for Burlington and Ottumwa and Creston, Council Bluffs and Omaha, Denver and San Francisco and ports across the Pacific. The pace picks up when another yard diesel noses in with the through cars from the East. Twenty minutes or so before the hour, the road diesels idle back through the crossovers and dwarf signals to track 30 and lock couplers with the 18 lead mail car. Carmen mate air-brake hoses and steam-heat lines. No. 29 is being born again. A few hours ago it was just a string of empty cars ; now there is mail aboard and power ahead. The expressionless, inexorable clocks along the track 30 platform tick toward nine o'clock and discipline tightens. Doors slam shut on the storage cars as the foreman of the loading dock surveys his creation. At 8:56 four bags are flung into the R.P.O. car, at 8 :58/2 one more sack appears. Then the seconds drain away, the foreman lifts his arm, and Burlington, the party of the second part, is ready to roll. Up front, diesel engines pick up on the rpm's. the generators convert their torque into direct current, which flows silently to the axlemounted, truck-suspended traction motors. The long silvery locomotives move...and with them move 15 cars of mail. The Fast Mail is under way, a ritual has been observed. And a proud seventy-five-year-old tradition is intact and perpetuated....tonight.. we've got 15 cars of mail.. and No. 29 sometimes departs Chicago in two sections with as many as 25 cars....the R.P.O. is officially CB&Q car No. 2332, a 60-foot vehicle custom-constructed to meet rigid P.O. specifications. Inside are pigeonhole cases for sorting letters, pipe racks to hold the openmouthed canvas sacks and pouches, tables and storage space. Seven or more men work here...standing up. At peak output they could depart Chicago with 150 pouches, each containing up to 3,(X)0 letters ; pick up 150 more pouches en route ; and process all 300 before No. 29 terminates at 5 :45 a.m. across the river in Omaha. All this in a space just 60 x 10 feet. A far cry, indeed, from the tiny wooden car on the Hannibal & St. Joe that inspired it all....the essence of mail handling is twofold, if reduced to its simplest terms. The mail must be transported. The mail must be sorted. Train 29 does both jobs, simultaneously. For as the Fast Mail rolls along, the clerks are opening up sacks of mail labeled for areas and states ; making separations of the mail by sorting it into the pigeonholes ; finally pouching it for stations en route and connecting trains. In this specific Railway Post Office-which is officially "Chicago & Council Bluffs 29"-the crew is making 72 "mixed" separations for such Western states as Wyoming and Utah ; 36 for Missouri ; 108 for Nebraska ; and 204 for Iowa-not to mention 96 for the city of Omaha itself, where the car finally stops. Before dawn the R.P.O. will have pouched mail for a total of 22 connecting trains and Highway Post Offices ("hypos," the clerks call 'em l, plus even more mail for Star Route trucks. Example : Mail is sorted for such en route Iowa destinations as Burlington, Ottumwa, Albia, Osceola and Creston, then unloaded at Galesburg, Ill., and held there for train No. 3. which follows in about two hours and picks up the pouches for fast delivery. Another example : The clerks of train 29 will sort mail for towns through which the Fast Mail hurtles even while the pigeonholes bearing their names are filling up. No worry, though, for these pouches are simply dropped off for pickup by the eastbound Denver Zephyr's Railway Post Office for morning delivery. Yet another example : Mail for Omaha "proper"- the city itself-will be sorted so specifically that the letter carriers can pick it up at the station without the need for the pouches to even enter the post office building. And just as a dining car can turn out a meal a minute from a galley whose size a housewife would complain of, so can a Railway Post Office separate mail in a volume which a sizable brick-andmortar and immobile Post Office would be hard pressed to emulate. Foot for foot, man for man, in fact, there exists no equal of an R.P.O. The Fast Mail doesn't dawdle. It never has. From a standing start in Chicago Union Station the big diesels require just 36 minutes to eat tip the 37.7 miles out to suburban Aurora. The next lap to Galesburg, 1241/2 miles, is taken at an even faster clip, the average speed being 71.8 miles per hour. The air-horns blasting for country grade crossings and the clickety-clack of the wheels on rail joints inject a sense of drama that even a mail clerk of 20 or 30 years' seniority is susceptible to...but the sustained speed of the diesels seems automatic by the standards of yesteryear....it is an honorable history that today's Fast Mail continues as No. 29 thunders across Illinois and Iowa toward the Missouri River. Galesburg, 11 :20 p.m. Burlington, 12 :07 a.m. Ottumwa, 1 :46 a.m. At each stop a postal transfer clerk or a Burlington employee records the loading and unloading of pouches. And back along the train, Burlington Bulletin

railroad employees open the bulk cars of parcel post, loading and unloading the bags of packages. This is not mere freight but rather human expression and deed which the clerks in the Railway Post Office sort into pigeonholes labeled Pawnee City, Wahoo, Grand Island, Lincoln, also (in the instance of Omaha "proper") Grain Exchange Building, University of Omaha, UP, Offutt Field, Federal Reserve. The pouches are opened, the mail separated, the pouches locked, the mail loaded and unloaded as Train 29 races the dawn into Council Bluffs. A few minutes past two o'clock one of the clerks in the R.P.O. slides back the door, watches for a familiar landmark in Chariton, where he puts off a couple of sacks. No. 29 rolls on. Osceola, 2 :44 a.m. Creston, 3 :16 a.m. No. 29 is the flagship of an impressively large Burlington mailcarrying fleet which provides the Post Office Department daily service on 17 different lines covering 5,008 route-miles of railroad in 10 states. A roster of 231 cars are allocated to this service, of which 63 are Railway Post Offices. In addition, the railroad provides mail storage and handling facilities at 521 on-line communities and cities. The Post Office Department makes payments to the railroad in three ways : a basic payment per mile for an R.P.O. car, regardless of load ; a payment per linear foot of space occupied in a storage mail car ; and a payment per sack handled on loading docks and platforms by railroad employees. The P.O. is vested with authority to place mail upon any passenger train Burlington operates, from an Iowa local to No. 1, the gleaming Vista-Dome Denver Zephyr ; to fine the railroad for tardy or otherwise inadequate service ; and to establish the specifications for mail-carrying equipment. The Post Office Department places the mail on the basis of cost, time and service. P.O. men are notoriously impartial about their business. The carrier that performs carries the mail-it's that simple. All of which helps to explain why Burlington men are quietly proud of their Fast Mail. Since that epic night in March of 1884 [when the Fast Mail first ran], one generation after another of engineers and firemen, conductors and trainmen, dispatchers and trainmasters, section foremen and presidents has jealously preserved, the train's reputation for delivering the mail-on time. The task has not been routine. No mass transportation job ever is. A draft board can thin the ranks of skilled employees in time of war. A thunderstorm over Iowa can swell a river, push a thousand streams over their banks. Christmas mails can stack the sacks 8 feet high in every last car the railroad can beg or borrow. But the mail moves regardless. No man on today's Burlington knows that better than Harry C. Murphy, present occupant of the president's chair in the Burlington Building near Union Station, Chicago. As a young man he was wont to hang over the railing of the old Spring Street overpass in Aurora when the high-wheeler hauling the Fast Mail came blasting through town on her way west to keep an appointment on the banks of the Missouri. As a man in the ranks he acquired a wholesome admiration for locomotive engineers of whom it was said simply, "He ran the Mail." As a district maintenance engineer and later division superintendent at Creston he had programmed the work of the section gangs whose mauls and strong backs surfaced and aligned the track the Fast Mail pounded down toward Council Bluffs and Omaha. As president, he makes it the first business of the day to examine Burlington's morning report, the sheet of terse figures that spell out how the trains are operating on 11,000 miles of high iron in 14 states. On the sheet is No. 29. It had best be labeled "on time." It almost invariably is-as it was at that Spring Street overpass. And as it is today when the diesels of the Fast Mail roll into Council Bluffs at 4 :59 a.m.-on time. Here at the vast, mechanized mail handling center, jointly sponsored by Burlington and Union Pacific, No. 29 all but dissolves. During the night one car of storage mail was.cut off at Burlington, one at Ottumwa, and another at Creston. Several cars are destined for Council Bluffs itself ; others will be switched into the Transfer so that their contents can be unloaded and distributed onto other trains ; and certain loads are destined for the mail train for California. Which leaves the Fast Mail reduced to just its diesels, its Railway Post Office, and storage mail cars for Omaha. Switching completed, No. 29 eases off into the faint, breaking daylight, trundles across the bridge spanning the wide, muddy Missouri, and rolls into Burlington's Omaha station. The diesels are Second Quarter 1983 cut off...the flagman takes down the marker lamps from the rear car...the Railway Post Office clerks pick up their grips and climb down from their car... The railroad has observed its nightly ritual with the United States Post Office Department, moved all the mail it was offered, rolled it to the Missouri River on time. 75T" ANNIVERSARY FAST MAIL 1884-1959 Opposite and above : loading and sorting mail in 1948 RPO car Silver Post. -CB&Q photo, BN collection. Below : working the Fast Mail's RPO in the 1890's. Note the skylights.-a.a. Green photo, BN collection 19

i - Postal Cars From the 1925 Car Builders Cyclopedia THE TRANSPORTATION OF MAIL requires the use of specially designed cars equipped for operation in passenger trains. These cars are constructed along the same general lines as baggage cars and other passenger train equipment but are provided with interior fittings especially designed to facilitate the handling of mail. Some cars are provided with facilities-letter cases, pouch racks, etc.-for sorting mail en route ; other cars-mail storage-are designed only for the transporting of mail. In order to standardize this class of equipment, the Post Office Department of the United States Government, in 1912, after conferences with a committee of mechanical engineers appointed by the railroads, issued specifications and floor plans for postal cars and fixtures for use in United States Mail Service. In 1915 the specifications and floor plans were adopted as Recommended Practice by the Master Car Builders' Association. Modifications of these plans, which provided for optional standards, were issued in September 1917 ; these optional plans were so designed that the mail compartments can be converted from one standard length to another when service conditions make it necessary to increase or decrease the space devoted to handling mail. Further modifications were made under date of February 2, 1920. 37. PAINTING-The painting of car body and trucks shall be in accordance with railway company's specifications for steel cars. Lightcolor enamel paint shall be used for interior finish above side plate ; below that line the car shall be painted a medium shade of darker color, preferably light buff or light brown, with dull finish. The lettering and numbering of postal cars shall conform to Railway Mail Service requirements and the railway company's standards. The inside length and width, the car number, and title of the company owning shall be painted at a convenient place inside the car. End doors and end door posts must not be sanded. LETTERING-Lettering on outside of mail cars shall be substantially as shown on Railway Mail Service drawing sheet 64, dated February 2, 1920. On 60-foot full R.P.O. cars lettering should preferably be central with respect to side door opening. On 30-foot apartments, lettering should be confined to the side wall of the apartment. On 15-foot apartments the lettering shall be abbreviated and in three lines, thus : U.S. MAIL RAILWAY POST OFFICE and lettering should be confined to side wall of the apartment, if possible. 1 Selected U.S. Government Postal Car Specifications 35. INTERIOR EQUIPMENT-The following equipment shall be furnished. Railway Mail Service drawings should be followed where these details are shown ; otherwise details to be as per railway company's standard. Bag Racks Mirror Broom Paper-boxes Catcher arms Paper rakes Chair or stout stool Portable bins Cinder guards Register cages Disinfectants Sack and pouch racks Distributing tables Shelf and letter drop Deck-sash opener Slip case Dustbrush Scheme case Dumping tray Stepladder Fire buckets Torch for lighting gas Fire extinguishers Toilet-paper holder Folding washbasin Wardrobe Hopper Water cooler Letter cases Water tank Letter-drop, Chute and Scoop Wrecking tools Lock rods Wire screens for letter case To Suit Cons//ucho, of 1JooiPo,l, t -Hardwood h 7oSof1 Cons/rvchonafOoor1%/ 4 la/,her Backe/ Safely gar a.7dbrache13 c Pve N /h a Pipe Cap o" One End anda Forked End a~ er' SSrrEdTo 6e5, /if :/edloraso/id//%5d Standard RPO Door Safety Bar and Brackets 1) nw- 17 43, 71 ~ ----7o.5f~il- -- G -- 10 rojw/comgudion f Door Posf C ourimc.f alr..m I n. fr ~ mej ~.~ 41- I I c.nl.r liad mal bag ca1.6.r. II I i C.r.l.r I,n. i r Pr. a.,l mo1 mf c,.r ^ i I I "- 1 1 Prop ; ~.e d c.r Foor.f -} osrea, Sine 4.0 :. Pouch CalcherArranyemen! Nole. Soder/inedS,mmtronsOnly aybevariedthennoad ~~ Conddiont Require a Pr,ecllon 6realerThan O6/ainaNe by Ex1-,JmyOoorBrac6e1s1oRoadsClearan sany/a6rvenmur/6elvamlome ~ Note 0/atehrofllole/nPoorBrac6,1, lo hej6rea/erthan/'amdv of 5traigh/Rodof to/chef Aim F R rap of roil : NOTE Full 11,0. 1nd10.t. 100.110, of mil pouch fur promt e. [n1n 0.11 c end io-ca, Ch1.go-Denver Zephyr Trot,.. 0000.d lln.. End l0.,. 11-1- of..11 pouch for..il 0.r of.tr-ltn. Zephyr t r.in. 9900 end 9903. 20 Standard Mail Pouch Catcher Arm CB&O Double Arm Burr Mail Crane Application Burlington Bulletin

Burlington RPO Cars CB&Q : 1904-1970 Baggage-Mail 1600-1614(1) 40'-45' Wooden 1600-1601(2) 69' Stainless Steel 1602-1603(2) 82' Stainless Steel 1604(2) 70' Stainless Steel 1605(2) 86' Stainless Steel 1650-1659 45'-50' Wooden 1700-1719 50'-52' Wooden 1750-1761 55'-60' Wooden 1800-1828 60'-63' Wooden 1850-1851(1) 65' Wooden 1850-1852(2) 40' Steel 1889-1899 60' Steel 1900-1909 70' Wooden 1910-1949 70' Steel Mail 2000-2004 28'-30' Wooden 2025 35' (?) Wooden 2050-2062 30'-44' Wooden 2075-2080 40' Steel 2100-2101 45' Wooden 2125-2133 52' Wooden 2150-2151 55' Wooden 2175-2245 60'-62' Wooden 2300-2346 60' Steel Coach-Baggage-Mail 2600-2605 45'-50' Wooden 2625-2639 50'-52' Wooden 2675-2678 55'-60' Wooden 2700-2714 60'-66' Wooden 2715-2716 65' Steel-former motor cars 2725-2726 75' Steel-former motor cars 2750-2751 70' Wooden 2752 70' Steel Coach-Mail 3000-3002 45'-49' Wooden 3003-3004 40' Steel 3025-3031 50'-53' Wooden 3050-3053 54'-55' Wooden Auxiliary Engine-Baggage-Mail 950-951 84' Stainless Steel-1936 DZ Builder's photos of cars constructed at the Aurora shops are rare, but this Sept. 29, 1904, view shows just-completed 60' mail car 2221, one of three dozen similar cars built there during the first decade of the 20th Century. Because of the 1912 regulations restricting the use of wooden mail cars in mainline service, most of the wooden 60-footers became baggage cars by 1924, with 2221 becoming the 1346 in 1915.-CB&Q photo, BN collection C&S : 1906-1970 Baggage-Mail 10-13 40'-42' Wooden-Narrow Gauge 250 40' Wooden 251 51' Wooden 252-256 70' Steel 257-260 60' Steel Sheathed 320 86' Stainless Steel-Became 0 1605(2) Coach-Mail 40-43 42' Wooden-Narrow Gauge 322 60' Wooden 323-327 50'-51 ' Wooden 328-331 60' Wooden FW&D : 1900-1970 Baggage-Mail 26 50' Wooden-Reblt. to Coach-Baggage- 31-34 70' Mail Steel 150 86' Stainless Steel Coach-Mail 22-25 52' Wooden 27-28 60' Wooden 29 61' Wooden 30 64' Wooden Wichita Valley Baggage-Mail 110 42' Wooden Coach-Mail 130-131 52' Wooden T&BV/B-RI Baggage-Mail 76-85 60' Wooden Passenger Motor Cars Coach-Mail CB&Q 9625-9629 CB&Q 9665-9666 Baggage-Mail CB&Q 9724-9735 CB&Q 9765-9773 CB&Q 9900, 9903 FW&D M-20 (Originally WV 20) B-RI 61-63 (Originally T&BV 61-63) Coach-Baggage-Mail CB&Q 9811-9818 CB&Q 9835-9853 C&S 401 (Pioneer, Mark Twain Zephyrs) Second Quarter 1983 21

Six unusual 40-footers PRIOR TO THE issuance of Post Office Department standards for mail cars in 1912, RPO compartments were built to any convenient size, and very short RPO cars were quite common, even on mainline passenger trains. Only such all-mail trains as the Chicago- Council Bluffs Fast Mail rated big 60' RPO's. Consequently, when the Q renumbered passenger equipment in 1904, there were 21 full RPO cars on the roster which were under 50' in length (some being as short as 28'), along with another 10 cars of 52' or 55' length. A good many 60' RPO's had been constructed by the Aurora shops during the 1880's and 1890's for mail train service, and Aurora began building these cars once again in 1902, turning out another 36 of the wood-bodied 60-footers by the end of the first decade of the 20th Century. Then in 1911, just a year before the mail car standards were promulgated, the Q acquired its first all-steel RPO's. The six cars, built by American Car & Foundry in June and numbered 2075-2080, were intended primarily for secondary and branchline service and were only 40'7" long. Next year, when the first standards were released, they called for all-steel construction of new cars, but they also established RPO compartment lengths of 8', 10', 15', 30', 60'-no 40' compartments were authorized, so the year-old cars were already obsolete. The standards were shortly modified to allow ready conversion of a compartment from one length to another, but placing a.30' compartment in a 40' car didn't make much sense, and the Q didn't particularly need a smaller compartment than that at the time. Fortunately, the nation's railroads were given a number of years to come into compliance with the federal standards, so the Q had time to decide what to do with the little 40' RPO's. Beginning in 1912 the Burlington began buying 00' full RPO's (2300 series) and 70' combination baggage-mail cars with 30' RPO compartments (1910 series) and by 1922 had acquired a total of 81 steel RPO cars meeting the federal standards. This gave the road an abundance of acceptable cars, so the many wooden RPO's were either retired or converted to baggage or company service, and the six 191140' steel cars were converted to baggage cars 1094-1099, trading their twin 2'6" doors for a single 6' door on each side. But the tale of the 40-footers doesn't end here-not by a long shot. In just six more years, four of the cars once again sported RPO compartments-standard compartments this time. Baggage cars 1099 and 1094 in December 1928 became baggagemail cars 1850-1851. They kept their central 6' baggage doors and regained a 2'6" door on each side to serve the new 15' RPO section. Cars 1095-1096 similarly were outfitted with a 15' RPO compartment served by a 2'6" door on each side. But instead of a baggage section, they were totally rebuilt at Aurora with a coach section seating 30. This modification involved adding a vestibule to the new coach end, increasing the overall length of the two cars by just over 3'. Only cars 1097 and 1098 remained as baggage (or mail storage) cars for the rest of their careers. And their lifespan was the shortest of the six 40-footers : 1097 was destroyed in a wreck at Shabbona, 111, in 1944, while 1098 was cut up at Aurora in 1949. But the other four were far from finished. In 1943 the 3004 lost its RPO compartment, becoming baggage-coach 3550. It retained this configuration until it was dismantled at Eola in 1956. -- - 00 :'-1. Zq-*C, RPO cars 2075-2080, as built I LI Coach-Mail cars 3003-3004 n TRKClA'~l~f1 O 00000 00 1 - JD TRUCK 1+ 1 11+ 1 11, Sister 3(x)3, after a stint in Texas on the FW&D's Wichita Valley lines in the 1940's, also lost its RPO compartment in favor of a baggage section. But the work was done unofficially (sometime around 19521, and the car was never renumbered. Its last use was as a waycar on the Eola-Oregon (I11.) way freight, and it was finally dismantled at the Eola reclamation plant early in 1966. This leaves baggage-mail cars 1850-1851. The latter lasted without further modification until 1961, when it was scrapped at Lincoln. But the 1850 was once more converted into a full baggage car, this time in 1950. It emerged from the Aurora shops as the 1300, still equipped with a 6' door and a 2'6" door on each side and even with one of its RPO compartment windows intact. In this configuration it was used in mainline service until joining the 3003 at the Eola scrapyard early in 1966. Quite a varied set of careers for six little RPO cars which, had they been ordered just a few months later, would probably never have been built due to the advent of the postal car standards. As the need for RPO cars declined through the 1930's and 1940's, a number of the standard steel RPO's (2300's) and baggage-rpo's (1900'sI were converted to other configurations-either with smaller RPO sections and added baggage space, or as straight baggage cars-but none underwent as many changes as the unusual little 40-footers. Only photo yet discovered showing one of the 40-footers as a full RPO is this unusual view of a westbound passenger train near Keenesburg, Colo., in April 1920. Immediately behind S-1 Pacific 2829 is the RPO - the only all-steel car in the train. The other six cars - baggage, baggage-coach, 22 chair car, diner, two sleepers and a solarium lounge - are wooden cars with steel underframes. - Joe Schick collection, DPLWHD

-- 40' - 7Y 2 '-'--- Baggage-Mail cars 1850-1851 O HO scale drawings by Bill Glick OC KeK D. B U F~. I =11 I U.S. MAIL. m r7a I L. W A Y - POST OFFICe (_. 1 N 1850 I T O RAILWAY GKPRELS AGENCY 14-0", L.--- 7'-6-28 -Q" RPO 2075 converted to Baggage 1094,10/22 ; converted to Baggage-Mail 1851,12/14/28 ; dismantled at Lincoln, 8/31/61. RPO 2076 converted to Baggage 1095, 9/23 ; converted to Coach-Mail 3003, 7/28 ; converted to Coach-Baggage 3003, c. 1952 ; dismantled at Eola, 1/13/66. RPO 2077 converted to Baggage 1096,1/22 ; converted to Coach-Mail 3004, 7/28 ; converted to Coach-Baggage 3550, 8/28/43 ; dismantled at Eola, 10/8/56. RPO 2078 convertedd to Baggage 1097, 8/22 ; destroyed at Shabbona, III., 8/9/44. RPO 2079 converted to Baggage 1098, 5/22 ; dismantled at Aurora, 9/30/49. RPO 2080 converted to Baggage 1099, 8/22 ; converted to Baggage-Mail 1850,12/14/28 ; converted to Baggage 1300, 8/3/50 ; dismantled at Eola, 1/13/66. Above, the 1850 in Chicago around 1950, shortly before it lost its RPO compartment for the second time, becoming a full baggage car, also for the second time.-lee Hastman collection, courtesy Jerry Albin Above right, baggage car 1300, formerly the 1850, at Lincoln in January 1961. Little has changed since the photo at left. The RPO compartment door and window remain (though the window is partially plated over), the mail slot has been removed, the stove and its stack are gone and the lettering has been modernized.-hol Wagner At right is coach-mail combine 3004 at Red Oak, Iowa, around 1942. The addition of a vestibule at the coach end has lengthened the car some 3', but the 15' RPO compartment is identical to those on cars 1850-1851. In 1943 this car lost its mail section in favor of a baggage compartment and was renumbered 3550.-Bernard Corbin Second Quarter 1983 23

I I I ~~ Above is a well known view of a train from Savanna, Ill., at the Galesburg depot in 1905, a year after Burlington's general renumbering of locomotives and cars. On the point is K-3 Ten-Wheeler 677, a former Chicago, Burlington & Northern engine. Behind it, and enlarged at right, is diminutive mail car 2001, thought possibly to also be of CB&N origin. Burlington records list it only as former CB&Q 905- presumably second 905. The abrupt end of the clerestory roof clearly shows that open platforms have been removed from both ends of the car. The tiny 28' RPO is so small that it rides on the same No. 7 trucks used by Q waycars.- Bernard Corbin collection f Mail car 2001 HO scale drawings by Hol Wagner.& C. is & o. ;20 1 u R L I N u 1 TT... i~ q ;II,III l llrrl' ''II T O 1 1 u. & o. O1~ ~y 33" 24 Remarkably, for a car that was off the roster by 1915, yet another photo of 2001 exists. This view, on the former Keokuk & Western Des Moines & Cainsville RPO route at Cainsville, Mo., around 1910, shows one window to have been removed, the door to have been modified slightly and the roof details to have changed considerably.-bernard Corbin collection Burlington Bulletin

There were no combination baggage-rpo cars as short as the 28' full RPO's, but there were a number 40' to 45' long in the 1600-1610 series. One is seen above at Bucklin, Mo., on the old H&StJ around 1920 sandwiched between K-4 4-6-0 703 and a 1910-series steel baggage-mail car. Note the wooden mail crane beside 703's cab. Below is car 1603, a 44'2" car very similar to the one above. Built at Aurora in 1877 as baggage car 167, it was subsequently renumbered 662, rebuilt to baggage-mail car 887 and renumbered 1603 in 1904. Modified with a standard 15' RPO compartment after this photo was made, the car lasted in branchline service until being renumbered 250619 on Oct. 20,1928.-Above, Otto Perry photo, DPLWHD ; below, Bernard Corbin collection 25 One of the oldest cars on the post-1900 roster, venerable baggage-rpo 1655, here trailing coach-baggage motor car 9529 at New Market, Iowa, in 1935, was built way back in February 1867 at Aurora as Q baggage-express car 25. It was subsequently converted to baggage-mail car 889 and, after removal of its end platforms, was renumbered 1655 in 1904. The 49' car, shown working the Keokuk & Shenandoah RPO route, was finally scrapped at Eola on July 23, 1946, the year after its southern Iowa RPO route was discontinued. - Bernard Corbin Second Quarter 1983

In the 0 1700-series were nearly three dozen wooden baggage-mail cars between 50' and 60' in length. Many received standard 30' RPO compartments after 1912 and continued in branchline service as late as 1947. One of the 1700's appears above with A-2 468 and a 57'coach near Beardstown, Ill., on Dec. 30,1917- Bernard Corbin collection Some 29 wooden 60' baggage-mail cars occupied the 1800-1828 series. Typical are cars 1805-1806, represented in these drawings showing latter-day appearance. The 1805 was built at St. Joe in 1887 as StLK&NW 106 and was scrapped in 1945 ; the 1806 was turned out by Barney & Smith in 1888 as B&MR 69 and was scrapped in 1942. N RAILWAY II fe ~. "^~~~ ER~Ia[es a chcr I80G 4 veer orr,ee Baggage-Mail cars 1805-1806 26 Last wooden mail cars acquired by the Q were 70'9'/2" steel underframe baggage-mail cars 1900-1909, built by AC&F in February 1911. Since they didn't meet the 1912 standards but were too new to relegate to branchline service, they became baggage cars 1490-1499 in 1923-24. One of the 1900's is seen behind P-2 Atlantic 2535 approaching Denver on Oct. 1, 1922.-Otto Perry, DPLWHD

There were 12 different narrow gauge RPO routes on Burlington predecessors/affiliates, not including the C&S. None, however, were on the famous Black Hills lines. This 1903 scene at Galesburg finds Fulton County Narrow Gauge 4-4-0 66, baggage-mail car 4 and an unidentified coach ready to depart on the Galesburg & Havana RPO route, which remained 3' gauge until 1905.-Bernard Corbin collection e. ~ '. fy hyf"~r~~ On the C&S and its predecessors, there were a total of six 3' gauge RPO routes. Here UPD&G train No. 52 pauses at Empire, Colo., on April 7, 1894. The Denver & Silver Plume RPO was being worked by baggage-mail car 30, one of three 1880 cars (30-32) which became C&S 110-112, later 10-12.-Union Pacific Historical Museum collection C&S train No. 71 pauses at Dickey tank on April 6, 1937, with the tri-weekly Leadville-to- Denver passenger run, which was discontinued just four days later. Behind leased Q 2-8-0 537 is baggage-mail car 13.-Frank Kelley photo, Hol Wagner collection C&S baggage-mail car 13 was built by the UP in 1880 for the Denver, South Park & Pacific, passed to the Denver, Leadville & Gunnison in 1885 and became C&S 114 late in 1898. Renumbered 13 in 1906, it lasted to the end of narrow gauge passenger service in 1937, then was sent with the C&S display train to the 1939 New York World's Fair. Subsequently stored at the Q's Aurora shops, it next became "Deadwood Central" car Buffalo Bill in the Q's operating exhibit at the Chicago Railroad Fair of 1948-49, where its RPO compartment cancelled mail. The car survives today-but just barely-on the Black Hills Central tourist operation in South Dakota.-Above, George Lundberg photo, Hol Wagner collection ; right, CB&Q photo, BN collection Second Quarter 1983 27

Seen at the Galesburg depot one morning around 1905 is a 4-4-0-powered two-car local. Ahead of coach 5005 is coach-baggage-mail car 2630, one of 47 cars of this type owned by the Q since the turn of the century. This particular car, built at Aurora in June 1881 as coach 140 and subsequently converted to coach-baggage-mail 671, is quite unusual in having a central RPO section. In November 1909 the car's coach section was removed and it became baggage-mail car 1716, lasting as such until Dec. 7, 1935, when it was scrapped.-bernard Corbin collection Bernard Corbin's first railroad photo, below, taken in December 1920, shows a very similar 4-4-0-powered two-car local, but this time the scene is Corbin's hometown of New Market, Iowa. The American type is A-2 No. 398, the coach is unidentifiable, and the other car is a more commonly configured coach-baggage-mail with the 15' RPO compartment up front.-bernard Corbin Second car on this westbound passenger train nearing Denver at Derby, Colo., in July 1918 is one of the Q's 163000-series coach-mail cars. From outward appearances, it is probably the 3027, a 49'10" car built at Plattsmouth in 1900 as B&MR 32, as it was the only 3000 new enough to be outfitted with the enclosed vestibule this car features, although such a vestibule could have been retrofitted. The photographer's motorcycle is visible near the rear of the train.- Otto Perry photo, DPLWHD

L e/%,-1 ;7y for S. G. Coach I Mai/ Cars 328-33/ C IBS R Y DE!VVL R 6-29-/8. 4786--R. r 11 tcztl S O ZS 'r HTIF- IFZr--.T.UNITED STATES MAIL. RAI LWAY POST OFFICE` ''I u CON1 INATION MAIL & PASSENGER CARS NO 2TT0Z 60 Comb /Ma,/ondPassCo,4 3.'8 C&J./5' ~ B46 43/7E J "~ comp0 Tc 3i ~RV~ ns Above, 1918 lettering diagram and 1916 floor plan of C&S coach-mail cars 328-331. These four were built by Pullman in 1906-07 ; the 329 was destroyed by fire in 1924, and the others were converted to steel-sheathed baggagemail cars 257-259 in 1925-26. Car 259 was destroyed in a 1938 collision, and the two survivors became baggage cars 228 and 230 in 1941 and 1943. The 230 was dismantled in 1955, but the 228 survives in June 1983 as tool car 99070. N Cc y 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 g~0 0 0 2? MAIL- LENGTH INS OE 5D'- 1" KIND OF SEATS. WIDTH INSIDE _')L0 MAIL 8,6 9"PASSENGER AIR BRAKE INTERIOR FIN15H _MAILENDA N PA SiMANOGRNY UPHOLSTERING _ HEAT MAIL END~TEAM& STOVE PRS S.[NpDAKER CURTAINS LIGHT IN 6 PINTSCHGAS SEATINGCAPACITY 3 z' 0 a ~'I rz NALE. LBURN COUPLER SIMPLE9 A_W 9.RM,14'kIZ" DRAFT GEgR$BUFFER P'IINEECLA55(~,-STANOgW PLUSH WEIGHT?7-108,4001.85.85z8-IOI, OOOLBS PANTASOTE BUILDER rullmaj CQ 2$ DATE tsuilt 1902 RE qviit FW&O 1909 FW&D coach-mail cars 27-28, left, were 1909 conversions of unpopular cafe cars 251-252, built by Pullman in 1900. C&S identically converted its cafe car 625 into coach-mail 322, and FW&D also converted two slightly longer cafe cars (253-254) into coach-mail cars 29-30. After remodeling the mail compartments to meet standards, all four FW&D cars were finally scrapped in the mid-1930's. C&S 322 became baggage-mail 260 in 1927, baggage car 229 in 1941 and was wrecked in 1948.-All, Hol Wagner collection

I I I 1 I I 1 14'-~% 1! I 8'-A4 43'- 3 - Class MA-10 Steel Mail Cars 2315-2324 HO scale drawings by Bill Glick Joe Legner collection

Builder's end view of car 2319, taken at the AC&F plant in August 1916.-Joe Legner collection Two builder's interior views of the 2319, showing the non-standard interior of the MA-10's as built.-joe Legner collection Although the Post Office Department first issued mail car standards in 1912, they didn't become mandatory until 1915-16. Burlington bought its first all-steel 60' mail cars, the 2300-2304, from Standard Steel Car Co. in April 1912 and followed with 10 cars (2305-2314) from American Car & Foundry in March 1914. None of these cars met the new interior configuration standards, and consequently by 1924 all had either been rebuilt to comply or were rebuilt to baggage or baggage-mail types. In August 1916 AC&F delivered cars 2315-2319, and sisters 2320-2324 followed in October 1917. Strangely, none of these 10 met the interior standards either. They were classed MA-10 by the Q and featured an unusual window arrangement, with two three-window pairs on one side and a two-four window grouping on the other. As the post office began to enforce the new standards, all but three of the MA-10's were modified with standard interiors which caused the window spacing to be changed to a set of five on each side. Cars 2316, 2317 and 2319, instead of being standardized, were converted in 1923-24 into baggage-mail cars 1897-1899 and outfitted with standard 30' RPO compartments. Cars 2321 and 2324, although modified to meet the standards, were similarly converted to baggage-rpo's in 1936-37, becoming the 1892-1893. Then in 1941 the 2315 and 2318 were converted into baggage cars 1316-1317. The three survivors lasted almost until the end of RPO service, with 2322-2323 being sold for scrap in 1967 and 2320 becoming a building at Galesburg in January 1970. Modified with a standard interior, car 2323 shows the resulting window arrangement. Lincoln, October 1965.-Hol Wagner Baggage-mail car 1892, converted from the 2321, at Alliance in October 1964. Car 1893 was identical ; 1897-1899 were similar. - Hol Wagner w

Class MA-11 Steel Mail Cars 2325-2346 R L I I 1 L_J I ~, RA~LWnY s~ o FC,C LC 5 Drawings by Bill Glick -1- - 43 -! 1r 5111E Ii111lll111-1111liiiII pmo J[ OTO1 mliri 3 1'2 Largest single group of full RPO cars on the Q roster was the 2325-2346, 22 cars turned out in December 1922 by Standard Steel Car Co. and fully complying with Post Office Department Standards, even to the pair of skylights over the letter cases, where it was impossible to place windows. As more powerful lighting became available, the skylights were eventually removed. Cars 2327 and 2335 were destroyed in the disastrous Aurora shop fire of Sept. 2, 1931, but all the others lasted into the mid-1960's and beyond. One of the cars spent three full seasons cancelling postcards at the 1932-34 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. In the mid-1950's, cars 2330 and 2337 were equipped with roller bearing journals and painted silver for Zephyr protection service. Upon its retirement in 1968, the 2330 was donated to the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wis. The accompanying builder's photos show the as-built appearance of the class MA-11 cars, which changed little through the years. -Jerry Albin collection 32 Burlington Bulletin

Above, Hol Wagner collection ; below, Joe Legner collection The Q began buying all-steel baggage-mail cars in 1913 with the acquisition of the 1910-1919 from AC&F, followed in 1914 by the 1920-1934 from the same builder. Standard Steel Car Co. added cars 1935-1944, C&S 252-256 and FW&D 31-34 in 1922 (as part of the same order as cars 2325-2346, opposite), and AC&F -completed the group in November 1924 with a final five cars, classed MB-23 and numbered 1945-1949. Also, as part of this last AC&F order, C&S car 253 was rebuilt from the rails up, having been virtually destroyed in a derailment near Casper, Wyo., on Sept. 27, 1923. All 49 of these cars were similar in appearance and construction, featuring standard 30' RPO compartments, and nearly all lasted into the 1960's. Two were destroyed in the 1931 Aurora shop fire, four were converted to baggage cars around 1950 and eight more became baggage cars in the early Sixties, but the rest remained essentially as-built until the end. A few gained or lost RPO compartment windows through the years, and car 1947 was given roller bearing journals and a coat of silver paint for Zephyr protection service in the mid-fifties. Three of the cars are preserved today : 1923 at the Illinois Railway Museum, 1942 at the National Museum of Transport in St. Louis and C&S 254 at the Colorado Railroad Museum. 11'-3 %a Class MB-23 Steel Baggage-Mail Cars 1945-1949 Drawings by Bill Glick B U N G T 0 ti I 4'-L' 53'-3" 70'-B/, n Second Quarter 1983 33

Builder's end and interior views of C&S baggage-mail car 253, taken in November 1924. This rebuilt car was identical to CB&Q 1945-1949. Joe Legner collection A member of the Q's very first batch of allsteel baggage-mail cars, the 1914 appears at Lincoln in October 1968, a year before it was sold for scrap. Built back in June 1913, the car has four RPO compartment windows rather than the more common three.- Hol Wagner Turned out by Standard Steel Car Co. in November 1922, FW&D 32 was photographed at Fort Worth in December 1966. By this time its third RPO compartment window had been removed (to allow extension of the letter cases), but the letter slot remained just below the former location of the third window. This car became tool car X-316 in March 1968. - Hol Wagner Q 1947, one of the 1924 AC&F cars, has also lost its third RPO compartment window in favor of a larger letter case, but more significantly, it has been equipped with roller bearing truck journals and painted silver (actually aluminum) for Zephyr service. It is seen leaving Denver Union Station on No. 10, the Denver Zephyr, during the 1962 Christmas mail rush. The car was sold for scrap five years later, in December 1967.-Hol Wagner 34 Burlington Bulletin

In May 1925 the Q completely re-equipped its Black Hills locals, Edgemont- Deadwood trains 141-142, by converting two 1903 coaches into parlor-coaches 425-426 and rebuilding 1905 AC&F coach-baggage combines 3502 and 3510 into coach-baggage-mail cars 2750-2751. These latter two had a large central baggage compartment with a 15' RPO compartment forward and a nearly-assmall coach section aft. The wooden cars all lasted on 141-142 until 1940, when they were replaced with all-steel equipment. Above, No. 141 leaves Edgemont behind K-2 665 on Oct. 15, 1933. At right, with leased C&S Ten-Wheeler 330 on the point, No. 141 rolls through the hills north of Edgemont on June 20, 1936. - Otto Perry photos, DPLWHD As mentioned on page 28, the Q owned a total of 47 combination coach-baggage-mail cars. Only five were of all-steel construction, and four of these were converted gas-electric motor cars. Car 2752, then, was a one-of-a-kind gem, purchased from Pullman in 1927 as part of lot 6068, which also included chair cars 4520-4527, coaches 6161-6170 and five lounge cars, including the Omaha Club. Also equipped with a 15' RPO compartment, 2752 had a much larger coach section than 2750-2751. Apparently used all its life on branchline and mixed train service in eastern Nebraska, primarily out of Lincoln, the car survived the BN merger as a mixed train waycar - by this time stripped of its RPO section. It was scrapped in the early 1970's. These three Pullman builder's photos depict the car ready for delivery on Sept. 2, 1927.-Joe Legner collection sl Yi sti [r ~- ~: : - ~ lr~r ialflra~ ~~~~wtror ~~~ srre ~ rww rwwwwllo ~ww : 8 Four motor cars were de-engined in 1941 and 1943 and converted into coach-baggage-mail cars. The 9096 and 9724, both 65' cars, became 2715-2716, while 75' cars 9839 and 9847 became 2725-2726. They were used as motor car trailers and/or mixed train accommodation cars. 2715 and 2725 were scrapped in 1957-58 ; 2726 lasted until 1964, and 2716 was finally sold for scrap in August 1967. Here 2726 nears the end of its career in the Creston, Iowa, yard on Oct. 11, 1964.-Charles Zeiler 35

U R L N G T O N w 0 PI=_ 47 " Z " T4~cK Cf~ f 5 7Z ' (17uPLf0 HO scale The Q bought its first standard lightweight baggage-mail cars from Budd in 1940. Cars 1600/ Silver Sheen and 1601/Silver Mail were 70' stainless steel cars with 30' mail compartments - simply modernized versions of the standard baggage-mail car in use since the turn of the century. Another very similar 70' car was purchased from Budd in October 1952. Externally, the 1604/SilverPouch was more modern - a postwar design - and had three RPO compartment windows rather than the two on cars 1600-1601. All of the lightweight mail cars lasted Budd Co. drawings, Hol Wagner collection in service through the 1970 BN merger, but with the end of railway mail service on the Q that same year, the cars became redundant. When Amtrak was formed in 1971, it had no interest in them, so they were either placed in company service or scrapped. Below left is 1601/ Silver Mai/ just out of the Denver wash rack in May 1963, and below right is 1604/Silver Pouch waiting to be loaded at Lincoln on Sept. 29,1968.- Left, Hol Wagner ; right, Bernard Corbin

The Burlington system owned four lightweight stainless steel baggage-mail cars over 80' in length. Two were bought from Budd in 1940 for the Texas Zephyr (C&S 320/Silver Tidings and FW&D 150/Silver Messenger). These 86' cars had 30' RPO compartments and long baggage sections. In 1948 the Q bought cars 1602ISilver Post and 1603ISilver Page, 82' cars with large 60' RPO compartments and short baggage sections - just the opposite of the C&S/FW&D cars. When passenger service on the subsidiaries ended in 1967, Silver Tidings was sold to the Q, becoming the 1605 in January 1969, and Silver Messenger was converted into FW&D tool car X-326 in July 1970. Above, Silver Tidings at Pueblo, Colo., in April 1965 ; below, builder's photo of Silver Post at Budd's plant in Philadelphia on Jan. 17,1948.-Above, Hol Wagner ; below, BN collection Budd Co. end view of 1602/ Silver Post, far left.-bn collection Builder's interior view of Silver Post's 60' RPO compartment shows it to be quite similar to those of cars built in the 1880's.- BN collection In addition to its Budd lightweight stainless steel mail cars, the Q owned two other lightweight cars with RPO compartments-one each for the Empire Builder and North Coast Limited, which operated over the Burlington between Chicago and the Twin Cities. CB&Q 41 was an 81' baggage-mail car built by AC&F in 1950 as part of a Great Northern order and painted GN's standard Omaha orange and Pullman green. Q 479, built by Pullman in 1947, was originally Northern Pacific 430 and was purchased and renumbered by the Q in 1954. The two-tone green car, seen here in Denver in May 1969, had a 30' RPO compartment and 52' of crew dormitory space.-hol Wagner Second Quarter 1983 37

,MyC 70 x 3TM. C RAILWAY ~~--~- pfxpre89 T O xoy T DDD l " C CK7CB.' aries.m Pv,S. CLwe ew n7age AtiD ww- cwa 7b 7~L Yeu.avcrcePr oi I r wck wr v a o 0 ~~ i UNITED i ' _~ ST EB MAIL - _ 9089 RAILWAY FO- OFFICL~ i 0 A ~L. Lcv P i f S~!CR G M tc S P,IUN. AP ~ ~. IL J ~ ~ r~~- LTC71 0000 Qr wl 7 7'RALL '.K1~ Y C* d'/ O l ~ : -~1- A1000 ArEACPI ft,! 70 SC STNCIA-CD ON CTR JILL h'7crc GSILY READ PRLM7 JIDC OF CAM, PCICRAd_ t, MW ALR QRAKC OQPQC~O~ w'+lxaw;~cw'!.,, A.N'Ih 7CM p~,00~t~1,, U. G. 'ea 00000 LOS 7DOCJTEN&rDOYCRSIDE000" ~OTC A 3rµOS,M ~C N I (' C LISA, GNiLC M&C/OJVVTCWXZ-DQ Sor,CNaYC,007f,WrJIGC000YRtA-MM, >TAr7DA6RCE N/TN JTAT/LYI{ Ap1V7N,W0 YCA4 LM.5 YOSCSTECN.CDO,'. 15 IIIIJ ";7 #'EcwzlmK To 01MVIOEG~COV73IrOW CAOI TW/CP IN LENGTH MODE 00' 0" 0 E` M" MEMS "` Of t/2870 ' n " a-posre>.oe,eeeerws.i :G7o -Z+IE9R 2 ~Amurr MUTHl OaS001 0000 0" A~'CLCT7CRIVi70StJTCACM-VONPMODLOCKCRO~IIILC/1OO-CAP TO CCJTENC/LEDONw/R77InvC7NNERECAJ/LYREAD C ~r7q PSSWS'OE 01 CAP 119-1 TO RG AcA/Nr;NNCOPot SL 77-PJ.PSOMOPT!OFAPPUCATONCASCO,TOOM/7 ro-smimamon0v1 t74a E 0fWMCCLPWCE O ~NS 0 /s'obw OP RNF /TA7T SE (450SrTi_s AS?'pMV. AV-or eomn -Vc xd w M^fwRED CCI4SCcurlwECr aesrm v A7i7I am Alma-TSDE poor CXT ro NYPCR ZCLEANEIID 7HE?MACK ce 7EWO Porn AEw GIDL0-*rNT Ate= (. a/c /YTL7dAr LCTrCR W 7b BE /- a 450 ALACK S r - ESTEm A ;m (OX ~A ~~r ~ 'I~ ~}~ Fl0. p~y TEAR 1 A~. W 160F ( p~ y I ( nec57a almaw 1=[NMPE AwarWA MM AM AW >, (D e O e 47- p~ G U 5 9 3," L ~ rl athua+ucesownsc aw 7W uscdav.77cay1cd1yilc70'uso9ly!-et7z)ftwo`l~pomwd eetirifilei~ir GVA ~Y71C/rFCfra T - fl~- TEAM HEAT GLK. AVr-- - 5TANCIPM LETTttws " f A~, ALL[wvorccrrcR~ roarrvuw & 0-6 ALOGC LCTTCRlMD. pop flum ON 3T(44 T)rAAS. C0mda"&*-lA.tAR3. PoPM/JCC.LCTTEP14 iflbi/r*.~/1cm r A T L-Jr 1 T I I I I I N ore 'Z OR NEW PULL SIZE JTO 4e7e'cN6 SEE DF6s--03.6/029, 4/030,6.03/?6/032 il UNITED STATES MAIL I RAILWAY POST OFFICE ~- i GSLQQ, 0000 J r o No V Qo L I, T (0000 C R -8CR LEM~a G11KRIDD E 00" 0, 1 l/v q J Il 001, 0 ABOVE TO RC STCnOLED CCnTh'A., _r.nsor JF CAQ ON N000.Or C c,- 57N0 00000 LIM ` TO RC JTCNC,~CO O,iCP SIDE A ORS TO BC AT OPPOSITE COOS ON CARS N/Tn 4 DOOR5 OR MO5E P PER ROSES a,oolorc PC'ISUED CO,JECL/TIVEL_r eeo,n/ng w/robox NEAREST J,OC 7005 NEST TO MOPPER 7nE Aeorc /Nes,os LErteslIW^ To LL' /,ftanowod LACK OLOCK /GVRE'. f IN ECTEID - i USEO CN' ME7AL STEAM CONNC0TONS ONLY j- STEAM HEAT.K. -- -AN 8B ' L ON 57(4,4 7RAP5 ~ty CYL LlKRAOfGJM[NiNlICnCi - i" C u Io )Lm ~D O~X 00@~ _TO SESTET00,_EOOn cr4. 5x 0(IERE L s,af/lye 90 PROMS/DE Y L'OS PREFERABLY NEAR AIR 5551'( CYLINOERrI1' l1 if O DOOO. 1 1' a POP NEW CORK CAR CO TD 0M. r STATION - "- 71 0 :ii Au. ~e TO SC STE/CLEJ ON BOTH /,D5 Ce 5074 OUTS/DE SOOT BOLSTERS,.STATION, MONTH AnD YEAR 7 ASRCE N,Tn STAT/ON, "0- AND YEAR CAR :5 TsR~CO WT NEW AU 'T TOO! STENCILED 'YA ;,( TANKS ANf20 (AS/LYPESO FPOMJ:DEOFCA JrfNCIL710BEMA/NT4,NEOFOR 7YP5 FPOM DATE v APPLICATION CAP CO. TO OM? 5rA7/ON-FOP FOE C TNT! IXCIL TORE (.1550 IT TIME 01115"C101.91, 00-12 08/7 j CLEANED IILED I TESTED L. ALT. VD' ~ 70 OE 5TEACJLED ON 23R- C C CYL- NNCPE EASILY R5A0 PROM SIDE OP C05 FOR NEW WORK CAR, O. TO OMIT STATION. LETTER/YB ON UNDER /'AAC DOVE N wwre LCAD- NOTE / : 4LL 14N9 /LETTERS TO L'E ROUND BLOCK LCTTEQ/NG FOEM/SC1L L!TTEP7N6 SEE ORW6'/i P0 AF" STD LETTE/P/NG FOR MAIL CARS OTHER THAN,STAINLESS STEEL MO 5 E'.-' Of C AQ EFT NAT, 9519E FAC/N6 CAR NorE '3- ALL 3 rc1yciun6 DONE N Nn1T5 EAC 577. CT KNEEL NUMBER 'EaCILEDON SAC'r PEDESTAL TO GUT9DE OF CON TCRTER ON EACH TRJCK,N FOIRES / ~2 H,Gn. CONSELUT/VELY FROM / 70 /2, EVEV NUMBERS Qv O E SIOC 00D NUKISSES 0/, OP OSITE Slag. SEE OPA6.T 2579 ~ ARUCO' NACE Pb.4 I~r "Cr55 NUMBER f ii 5 CTTCR TO AC,STlwC'ILED ON pwr,s,oc SNOOP CACN WHEEL P,ECE AS SHOWN ToE ABCY'C rglick LCTTCR/NG PtR NEW EQU/PMCN7 I Oo LET) R P1 CHT1D 10 DAY lc~ e1 AU 0 0 0 0 00 I' L ETTERS w 7NO PLXE3 a'+ TNECAR 4, TNC OAOMAL CLWIC+RS, 017N -Z.15 ait E 7RLC1 FAC.NG 7LYYRPD CENTER pf 045. - C8 'QRR.10-IV/7069 W><I - ;-b II 38 Burlington Bulletin

i L etteriny for NG. Bagyaye /Wail Cars /D-/2. Ctt.S.RY DENVER s-27-18. t7e'1 A. I I I I I l I I I I I I f I I I I I I I I I I I c O L O R A D 2 I I I I I Br S X-3 -V Ve r-4 I BAG GAG 9 UNITED STATES MA11rT1' 0RAILWAY POST OFF1CIL 'i!+ E XPRE S s C OIPANY r ~ O :4 s Cy nc+ Three drawings : Hol Wagner collection. LettPriny for NG. Coach t "all Cars 9o-43 CAS RY DENVER 6-21-18 ~77.SR, I i I I I I I i I 1 l 1 1 I I I t I I 1 1 I I I I I C OL OR AD S OiSTHERN I 1 1 I I I L I I 1 1 I f I I I I I UNITED STATES _ fa1t,-+' 0 RAILWAY P O S T OFFICE ~) Lettering for S G, Bayyaye and Nai/ Car 2SO C..CS RX DENVER 7~6 /a 47$6. 0 o I o 0 0 0 0 0 o I 1 1 1 o COLOR AD O 8c S O is "r -i 1 1 r BA11GAGE _.ADAMS_ EXPRESS C OMPANI;-~4 4UNITED S TATS S tmail RAILWAY PO ST OFFI CE 1 f Second Quarter 1983 39

FLOOR PLANS OF 60 FT., FULL POSTAL CAR AND 30 FT., 15 FT., AND 15 FT. 8 IN. COMPARTMENTS, SHOWING ARRANGEMENT OF DOORS, WINDOWS, ETC., AND LOCATION LETTER CASES, POUCH RACKS, STANCHIONS, ETC. F,- PR." r0r 3-- IBF, N1. A--,- (1) 60 ft. Full Car-Floor plan showing doors and windows arranged for 60 ft, car, or for converting to a 30 ft. or 15 ft. compartment. Windows shown in full lines and three skylights shown by dotted lines for 60 ft, car ; windows shown r n dotted lines may be installed complete firn original constnreticn, or provision made for completion when required. So that part or entire car may be used in other than distributing mail service, extra posts may be provided in side walls of such nature as will permit widening the doors at minimum cost. (2) 30 ft. Compartment-Doors and windows located to permit compartment being reduced to 15 ft. without change in this respect. It originally fitted up as a 30 ft. compartment, windows shown in full lines and the skylight in dotted Foes are required ; windows shown in dotted lines can be installed complete or provision made for completion when change to 15 ft, compartment is made. If contemplated that car may be changed into a 60 ft, car, the additional doors, windows and skylights shown on the 60 ft. plan can be installed complete, or provision made for completion as required. (3) 15 ft.-15 ft. 8 in. Compartment-Optional, in lieu of the standard plan shown on R.M.S. Sheet F, revised February 2 1920. Designed to permit e compartment being extended to 30 ft. or 60 ft. without change in doors or windows. Involves use of side doors cf same width as in 30 ft. and 60 ft, cars, and same space for toilet as in the larger units. The compartment is 8 inches longer than the 15 ft, shown on Sheet F, although there is no increase in the facilities in the compartment and it is rated the same as the 15 ft. Compartment. (4) If inside length of car exceeds 60 ft. the excess should he added between side door opening and end of car. If excess is greater than 3 ft. stove should be located at same end of car, on opposite side, and adjacent to the door opening, with a bulkhead of insulated metal plates to height of stove and wire netting panel above ; face of bulkhead to he flush with edge of door opening. FLOOR PLAN FOR I5 (I5"'B'") MAIL APARTMENT S L FLOOR PLAN FOR STANDARD 60" MAIL CAR Hol Wagner collection