Well even a full RPO car wasn’t very big inside, I imagine they could easily hit someone within the car. Remember too would be a number of clerks in the car - somebody would hit something. I imagine they had to test at some point to show they knew how to use the sidearms, but I don’t know if it was just at the start of their career or if they had to do it every so often.
Marine Mail Guards… courtesy Mike
https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/intense-rules-for-marine-guards?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1
More about mail guard at the end of “Episodes” article, The Leatherneck , Nov. 1932
Additional goodies from Mike!
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/imgsrv/image?id=wu.89066031634;seq=639;width=1190
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/imgsrv/image?id=wu.89066031634;seq=640;width=1190
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/imgsrv/image?id=wu.89066031634;seq=641;width=1190
Man, that was some GOOD stuff from Mike all right!
That photo of those Marines, from their “Barracks Covers” (that’s hats in Marine-speak) down to their spit-shined shoes, those guys mean business!
And those words from Colonel Taylor’s article, such as…
“The Marine at his post of duty with orders to shoot to kill, thus depriving professional bondsmen, spineless jurors, political dominated judges, and shyster lawyers from defeating the laws of the land.”
"The Marines…newly acquired slogan “A dead bandit is a good bandit…”
I’ve said it before in other posts on other subjects, people were TOUGH back then! Some, if not most of them anyway.
RPO “apartments” came in three standard sizes, 15, 30 and 60 ft. The 60 ft. “apartment” was typically an entire car, where the shorter ones were part of various RPO-Baggage, RPO-Coach or even RPO-Baggage-Coach combinations.
Was in the restored RPO at VMT yesterday. There was an official notice, I believe over the Postmaster-General’s signature, that no one ‘from outside’ was to ride in a mail car at any time, and that the conductor was to be summoned if there was any problem. Someone can probably find a picture of one of these and post (pun intended) a link.
From: Nevada Northern Railway
To: Classic Trains Forum, Internet.
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I guess this was one of the most expensive RPOs ever built in NA. NYC #5022 “John A. Dix” - Budd baggage-mail. John Adams Dix:
Thanks to Jones1945 (and the Nevada Northern) we now know the signature was that of the General Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service.
The most expensive RPOs were the nine 85’ Budd built ones delivered to Union Pacific in August 1963, which remained in service as RPOs only until September 1967. UP still carried storage mail until 1971. 60 foot RPO with 21 foot storage section. All of them were donated to the Fremont and Elkhorn Valley after some service as MofW tool cars, six sold to VIA in 1993.
Wierdest mail storage cars were MPs low roofed 85 footers, so built because the Post office payed by the foot for mail storage…
I remember seeing a photograph of a baggage cart that had an extra platform bolted to the main frame to place the casket level with the baggage car floor.
Ed Burns
US mail was a large commodity on the Northern Pacific. A train brief from the “Mainstreeter” during the US mail time was for two RPO’s out of St. Paul. One went to Jamestown, ND and was turned for the next day. Both RPO ends were together. A man I knew named Art was on the St. Paul to Jamestown route. It seems that he had several days off between runs.
Ed Burns