File:DSC00540 - Mail Car CP 3618 (48167724622).jpg

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On April 6, 2001, the Canadian Post Office celebrated its 150th anniversary. While it is likely that mail was carried by the Champlain & St. Lawrence Rail Road as early as 1836 between La Prairie and Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, the first official postmarking by a Canadian railway occurred on October 22, 1853, on the St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railway connecting Montreal and Portland, Maine. Railway companies quickly began to build special cars not only to carry mail, but also – this was the ingenious part – to sort mail as it was being carried. Thus on November 1, 1853, on the Great Western Railway of Canada, the mail car became a travelling post office. This tradition was maintained until 1971.

Postal workers formed an elite group able to sort moving mail at a rate of one postal item every two seconds, with an accuracy rate of over 90%. Mail was put on board in major urban centres, then sorted and left at predetermined spots along the way. Most of the time, mail bags were simply thrown off the moving train, while a mobile arm outside the car picked up a new bag. These mail cars were designed for speed and were part of passenger trains rather than freight trains. Their design was therefore modelled on that of the most modern passenger cars.

CPR 3618 is the quintessence of the North American mail car. Built in 1940 by the Canadian Pacific, it was used on express passenger trains. It is divided in two sections, one for carrying parcels and the other for the travelling post office. The car has remained virtually intact since it was withdrawn from service. The restoration carried out in 2001 recreated the vehicle’s appearance exactly as it was in the years from 1950 to 1967.

All the information used with the pictures was taken from information at the Canadian Railway Museum Site.