Railway Post Office

Railway post office
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Railway Post Office - a postal facility on trains, steamships and street cars for processing mail in transit. The first official RPO route was established in 1864. The initials R.P.O. generally appear in postmarks applied by a Railway Post Office.

Railway Post Office (RPO): Portable mail-handling equipment for sorting mail in transit on trains. The last official U.S. RPO ran June 30, 1977. RPOs were used in many countries. See also Mobile Post Office.

Railway Post Office - train cars that were the property of railway companies but used by and restricted to U.S. Post Office Department employees. The RPO cars were usually placed directly behind the locomotive.

Railway post office. A system once used by the POD to process mail in railroad cars enroute between cities. A distinctive cancel was used and FDCs exist with RPO postmarks. [Back to top]
RSA
RSC ...

An RPO (Railway Post Office) was a special mail car on a train. Trains loom large in postal history, as may be deduced from the number of stamps on which trains are depicted - the ATA Handbook World Railways Philatelic lists over 10,000 of them, ...

RPO - Railway Post Office.
RRT - Refers to right side.
RTS. - Return to sender.
Rubber Stamp Address - Address applied to a cover using a rubber stamp.

Railroad cancel: postal cancellation applied in a railway post office aboard a train.
Rail Road Car: handstamp on baggage or mail car of an independent railroad indicated mailing status and fee paid.

- Railway Post Office.
R.S.O. - Railway Sorting or Sub-Office. Sometimes the nearest P.O. to railway track.
R. - Abbreviation for a reprint.
Ralph, Allen - (b.1694 d.1764).

RPO — Railway Post Office
S or Sup. — Superb
S/A — Self-adhesive
SASE — (Self)-addressed, Stamped Envelope
Sc. — Scott catalog
SE — Straight Edge
Seten. — Se-tenant
SG — Stanley Gibbons catalog ...

It was September 30, 1978 that the last operating railway post office boat route was run on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee. Of course, this doesn't mean that mail is not still carried on the lake.

On the other hand, those with railway post office stamp cancels were carried by trains. While those with ship cancels or paquetbot marks have been aboard steamer ships.

means "Railway Post Office". The cancellations always had the name of the route of the train, and sometimes they also showed the postal clerk's own personal "number". Of course, the date was always there as well. Many people collect and study R.P.O.

L.S. - Returned Letter Section.
R.M.S. (India) - Railway Mail Sorter.
R.P.O. - Railway Post Office.
R.S.O. - Railway Sorting or Sub-Office. Sometimes the nearest P.O. to railway track.

See also: Used, Stamp, Postmark, Cancel, Trans