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Morning Open Thread - A tale of the mail and rails, Part II [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-12-22
We have been seeking writers to host the Morning Open Thread. Ozarkblue graciously shared a story and gave me permission to relay it here. Today’s diary is the second installment of that tale. Thank you Ozarkblue for your memory. Morning Open Thread is a daily, copyrighted post from a host of editors and guest writers. We support our community, invite and share ideas, encourage thoughtful and respectful dialogue in an open forum. If there were passengers to debark/embark at the depot, then the train stopped and Dad handed the mailbags to the mail car clerks. He would be given bags with incoming mail in exchange. Often there were no passengers, so the train merely slowed as it went past. x x YouTube Video
As the Train got to the depot from the East, a large (man-sized) canvas bag, containing inbound mail, was tossed by a mail car clerk onto the eastern end of the Depot’s platform.
Then, just beyond the western end of the Depot’s platform, there was a device called a ‘mailbag catcher’, on which another large canvas bag was stretched. This contained all the small mail bags that were outgoing mail from Dad’s Post Office (and the smaller rural station near there).
A mail car clerk used a long metal hooked device, resembling what we called a “shepherd’s hook”, grabbed the bag while the train passed the catcher. Dad was required to stay at the Depot until it was certain that the bag had been successfully grabbed.
Thus, the mail got onto the train and was sorted for it’s further destination, or set for transfer to some other train in the network. I watched this process a number of times when Dad took me with him to the Depot. It was a fun experience.
Ozarkblue added a link to an article about mail cars. If you are interested, the link is here. www.railswest.com/…
Thank you for this fun and informative article Ozarkblue. I hope you found my musical insertions fitting to your story.
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