[Date Prev][Date Next] [Chronological] [Thread] [Top]

Re: (erielack) RFD defined and EL RMS ?

Well, Frank, I can't speak for western NY.......but in the late 1960s when I'd deadhead from Scranton to Binghamton to cover yard jobs, I'd ride in the trailing engine on #5 and see from the cab as the mailbags flew out of the RPO and went bouncing along the platform at places like Dalton. I remember wondering if there was anything breakable inside.............
Regards,
Walter E. Smith - employee #102156
 

________________________________
 From: Frank Mellott <fmellott_@_pa.net>
To: EL Mail List <erielack_@_lists.railfan.net> 
Cc: hhaines_@_aol.com 
Sent: Thursday, May 30, 2013 5:48 PM
Subject: (erielack) RFD defined and EL RMS ?
  



RFD
*R*ural *F*ree *D*elivery

Service began in the 1890's to early 1900's IIRC.
Before this service began rural areas had thousands of post offices.  
For example, the place my grandmother and her sisters were born, and 
another place one lived later, had gristmills. In the office was  a set 
of pigeonholes.  A few times a week the RFD mail buggy would stop and 
drop off mail that farmers would collect when they came to the mill.
Later these routes expanded to home delivery and gave rise to the following:

RD  Rural Delivery- delivery by a USPS employee in a service owned or 
the employees own vehicle at a mileage rate plus hourly pay.

HCR  Highway Contract Route- Contractor would bid on the route and 
provide vehicle.

Star Route- original name, possibly still from horse and buggy days for 
a contract route.  Used concurrently into the mid 1990's.

Hope this helps...
To get this back on topic.  Did Railway Mail Service employees sort to  
only town level or the whole way down to route level and let the carrier 
put it in route order?

When did RMS cars come off the Erie/DL&W lines in western NY and Ohio?

Frank








    The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
    http://EL-List.railfan.net/
    To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html

	The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List
	http://EL-List.railfan.net/
	To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html

------------------------------

End of EL Mail List Digest V3 #4582
***********************************