Postal Service Marks Railway Mail Service with Special Postmark

Pictorial Cancellation Marks 60th Anniversary of Railroad Post Office

What: Special Postal cancellation to mark the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of Railway Mail Service on the Oakland to Chicago City Of San Francisco streamliner. Mail will be hand canceled on board, as the Railway Post office car becomes an official USPS Post Office for the day. The historic cancel and cachet are available at the event, or you can bring your own mail to receive this unique cancel.

Who: The Fremont Post Office
Golden Gate Railroad Museum
Niles Canyon Railway
Retired Railway Mail Service Clerks

When: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Where: Niles Canyon Rwy Depot
37001 Mission Blvd
Historic Niles District
Fremont CA, 94536

Background: Oct. 1, 2009, will mark the 60th anniversary of the inauguration of Railway Mail Service on the Oakland to Chicago City Of San Francisco streamliner. Golden Gate Railroad Museum (GGRM) has in its collection Union Pacific 5901, the last surviving Railway Post Office (RPO) car from that train. GGRM members and several retired USPS Railway Mail Service clerks are restoring it to represent a working RPO.

The RPO and several other historic railway cars will be on display at the Niles Canyon Rwy depot in the Historic Niles District of Fremont.

For more than 100 years, the old U.S. Post Office Department used Railway Post Office cars to sort mail on hundreds of trains each day all across the country. Come meet the men of the Railway Mail Service who worked this car until RPO service ended in 1967

The previous RPO event was held in Sunol, CA, celebrating the final run of RMS on the Southern Pacific on Oct. 13, 1967. More than 900 pieces of mail were canceled that day.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 149 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes, six days a week. It has 34,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services, not tax dollars, to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.