Railway Post Office History Seminar
January 20, 2001
1:00 - 5:00 PM

To coincide with the arrival of ex- Southern Railway Post Office car number 36, the museum is hosting a historical seminar on the use of these cars throughout North Carolina. The seminar will take place on January 20, 2001 from 1-5 p.m. in the North Carolina Transportation Museum roundhouse classroom.

The seminar will comprise of two sections - an organized lecture in the roundhouse classroom on the history and use of mail cars and a hands-on discussion inside the fully restored mail car describing how mail was actually processed. Speakers for the lecture are retired RPO clerks from North Carolina.

Railway Post Office car number 36 was built by the American Car and Foundry in 1922 as part of an order for 23 cars used solely for the sorting and delivery of US Mail. Inside were "pigeon holes" used to sort individual letters, racks for boxes and oversized items with fold-out tables for dumping and sorting of mail bags. As many as 10 people worked in a single car sorting the mail. This car was used on the Southern Railway in Georgia and Alabama based on the city names found inside. Railway Post Office cars ran up until the 1970's when most Railroads stopped transporting First-Class mail.

For more information, please contact Larry Neal at 704-636-2889, extension 227 or email lkneal@ncsl.dcr.state.nc.us. The museum is located at 411 S. Salisbury Ave., Spencer. Use exit 79 off I-85 and follow the brown museum signs.


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