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![]() IC Railway Post Office (RPO) car #100 is a 60-foot heavyweight car built in January 1914 by Pullman as part of lot #4183. It was one of 10 identical all-steel post office cars built for the Illinois Central. The car was remodeled in 1935 to conform to Railway Mail Service specifications adopted in 1929. #100 was still in service in December 1948 and may have continued to as late as 1968. All RPO cars were removed from the IC roster by March of 1971. The body is steel and the floor is wooden. This car is equipped with large mail bags on racks, 50 sorting cages, and 744 "pigeon hole" mail slots at head level. About 6 mail clerks worked in the car while it was underway. Mail was spread out on long tables. Mail for larger towns was placed in the bags while mail for the smaller towns went into one of the sorting cages or pigeon holes. At the B end of the car is a larger open area for storing larger packages. A toilet closet is located on the right side of the A end. There are two sliding doors on either side. These doors were opened while the train was stopped at a station to take sacks of mail on board. If a town was not a scheduled stop, mail to be picked up was placed in a pouch and hung on a mail crane by the tracks. As the car approached the mail crane, a clerk opened one of the doors and used the mail hook on the side of the car to snag the pouch of mail. At the same time mail for the town was kicked out onto the station platform. This was mail pickup and delivery on the fly. Passengers could mail a letter or purchase a stamp in the RPO. RPO cars were usually found on express and through trains, but could be assigned to any route at any time if needed. RPO #100 is painted blue-black and has white lettering. She was repainted in 1998 when she was used in the movie "The Newton Boys" that was shot in San Antonio and environs, but the movie company neglected to paint over the Milwaukee Road name on the car. Note the "IC RR" cast into the trucks above each axle. |
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