Now that is a great picture. Thats quite the load of mail! You got to luv that truck…the driver must have had a lot of fun in the rain, cold days, winter snow, you name it. No need for windshield washer fluid!
Things have changed but really the method is much the same. Delivery trucks and containers or trailers In place of a staffed mail car.
Lehigh Valley mail car
Workers transfer mail between a Post Office Department truck and a Lehigh Valley Railway Post Office car around 1910. The 60-foot, all-steel RPO is state of the art, unlike the ancient wooden, open-platform car to its left.
Library of Congress photo
So, you’re saying this wouldn’t pass OSHA standards? [(-D]
Thinking with a full load like that you need some strong arms on that steering wheel to make turns. Wonder if the vehicle did ok going up inclines, uphill, that sort of thing. Also it looks like it could be a bit tipsy.
Other than that it must have been exhilarating to get around in.
The Lehigh Valley mail car is gorgeous…too bad we cannot see more of the one behind it, the older one with the platform ends.
I would think there were some safety standards and concerns back then and perhaps it was the Railroads that led the way in much of that.
Occupationl Health and Safety Standards …probably unlikely, in it’s infancy.
The whole scene looks pretty good to me. At least there were real mail cars and the Lehigh Valley RR was prosperous.