A History of Royal Mail and Parcels Trains Plus The Travelling Post Office

Описание

A look back at the history of Royal Mail and Parcels Trains Plus The Travelling Post Office as well as a look at future developments of rail light logistics such as the new Orion light logistics parcels services.

There is a long history of mail being moved by the railways dating back nearly 200 years. The first service ran in 1830 between Liverpool and Manchester. Eight years later on board staff began sorting the mail in transit so began the first Travelling Post Offices. The network of mail trains grew rapidly with Government support and reached the length and breadth of the country.

With the run up to privatisation and the introduction of Sectorisation in the late 1980s a separate parcels sector was created for the handling of the railways mail traffic. It was subsequently re-branded as Rail Express Systems (or RES for short) in late 1991 with a new livery and logos.

During the hours of darkness many of Londons terminus stations were busy servicing mail trains. The RES management decided to centralise these operations at a new London hub at Willesden known as Railnet. As a result of this ambitious scheme these mail trains would be reorganised and relocated to the Railnet hub. The final mail services departed from Londons Kings Cross, Euston, Liverpool Street and Paddington on the 27 September 1996.

Another RES initiative was the procurement of new Class 325 electric multiple units built exclusively for moving mail that would replace traditional loco hauled trains. These trains were dual voltage and could run on both the DC third rail network and on the AC overhead line.

The entire RES operation was sold to EWS in 1996. In 1999 EWS ordered thirty Class 67 diesel locomotives via the leasing company Angel Trains. These locomotives were to replace the ageing Class 47 fleet that were being used to haul many mail trains.

In 2003 the Royal Mail announced that it intended to stop using trains to transport letters and parcels. Royal Mail said the network's 49 mail trains, including 16 Travelling Post Offices also known as TPOs would be scrapped.

During the 1980s and 90s the number of TPOs in operation had already begun to dwindle. This announcement was the final nail in the coffin for the them and final regular TPO services in Great Britain operated on 9 January 2004.

Not all was lost however as in May 2005 freight operator GBRf took over the Royal Mail contract. Class 325s mail units began operating services again on the West Coast Mainline route. The contract was later extended to 2010.

However, during this period the Class 325s suffered from poor reliability. The sight of Class 87 locomotives that GBRf had acquired from Virgin passenger services hauling these mail trains became a regular sight.

In 2010 EWS, now renamed as BD Schenker won back the Royal Mail contract. It continues to operate the Class 325 mail units but the company is know known as DB Cargo UK.

The continued growth of online shopping has prompted several new operators to announce they intend run future parcel rail freight services. Using redundant passenger units converted to carry parcels traffic these new operators could see a renaissance in mail by rail.

One of these operators Orion, backed by the Rail Operations Group has already run some services along the West Coast route but with a diesel locomotive providing the motive power as seen in these scenes.