On September 16, 1967, the Post Office served notice that virtually all remaining RPO service west of Chicago (and in many other places), would end 30 days hence. Some time during that final month, Ogden RPO clerk Willard Nelson took his 8mm camera along for a final look at a soon-to-vanish facet of life on the railroad. This 1 minute, 34 second sequence starts in Lovelock and shows the clerks, two of whom I had the opportunity to interview (along with Willard), waiting for #22. As it approaches, the trains shrinking size is already evident, a truncation that would continue during the next 6-8 weeks that it ran, eventually consisting of as few as 2 cars (train baggagemens car and a chair car). The interior RPO sequences are a bit difficult to distinguish and are best viewed without any backlighting or overhead lights. The sequence passing Beowawe on the WP is, for me, almost magical. But as far as Im concerned, everything about mails trains fit that category.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 05:16:50 +0000
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