Mail catcher
Mail catch hooks made it possible to transfer mail from or into a rail mail car moving at undiminished speed .
background
Stopping and then starting a train takes a lot of time and energy. For this reason, early thought was given to the method of handing over mail from a train that was moving at an unabated or only slightly reduced speed.
Procedure
The mail bags were placed by the railroad guards in the mail hook, which was pushed out of the rail mail car near the destination. Corresponding to this, there were stationary racks next to the track with which the mail bag was picked up. Conversely, a mail bag was placed in a rack and picked up by the mail catch hook of the passing train. This procedure was used in the USA and Great Britain .
The technical limit of this process lies in the extreme acceleration of the mailbag, which occurs at higher train speeds. This can not only lead to damage to the mail items, but can also lead to damage due to mail bags hitting back or against the train. Therefore, the process was abandoned when train speeds increased in the transition from steam locomotives to diesel and electric locomotives in the 1950s.
Discarding letter bags
Little is known about the use of mail hooks in Germany. Until the beginning of the 20th century, mail bags were dropped at stations while the train was passing through. Letter bags could not weigh more than 6 kg. They were thrown sideways in the direction of travel of the train "with moderate exertion" . When reaching the dropping point, the engine driver gave a signal with the steam whistle . The officer present on the platform to accept the bags carried a lantern with frosted glass panes in the dark, one of which was marked with the inscription "POST". This inscription was held against the train. Since accidents or damage to the mail items often occurred when the mail was dropped, the procedure was discontinued by the Deutsche Reichspost in 1900 , and Bavaria followed on May 1, 1904.
In the mid-1930s, the process was practiced again: The saloon cars 10201 to 10204 of the Deutsche Reichsbahn were equipped with containers with which telegram texts could be dropped when passing through stations and then sent by the railway staff there.
literature
-
Manual dictionary of the postal system ; ( Dropping mail bags )
- 1st edition; P. 11
- 2nd Edition; P. 23
- Explanation board on the Burlington Zephyr in the Museum of Science and Industry , Chicago .
- Josef Otto Slezak: The distant signal is astonishing. Strange things from the railways around the world . Vienna 1952.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Concise dictionary of the postal system; 2nd Edition; P. 23
- ↑ Slezak, p. 187, illustration: p. 186.
- ↑ Concise dictionary of the postal system; 1st edition; P. 11
- ↑ Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft (ed.): Official Gazette of the Reichsbahndirektion Mainz of October 10, 1936, No. 44. Announcement No. 455, p. 207.