RPO on N&W No. 8

[NW Mailing List]

 My dad was a career Railway Post Office clerk and foreman on the N&W.  
I can see him now cleaning his piece at the kitchen table. It was neat to be able to say my dad was an armored officer and ready to deal with train robbers. Not many other onal Center Office.grade school kids could say that. 
He was on the Norfolk to Cincinnati run for many years. He started the RPO runs from Cedar Bluff to Iaegar. We lived in Bluefield and after the mail was removed from trains he was a foreman at the Bluefield Sectional Center. He retired from that job.
We lived in Pittsburg, Portsmouth, Iaegar and Bluefield during those times.
Howard Leedy Bluefield, WV    On Wednesday, October 14, 2020, 12:24:00 PM EDT, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:  
 
 Good morning,I'll just add a note to this discussion. I grew up in Roanoke, the son and grandson of N&W employees. I had relatives in Rice VA, about 6 miles east of Farmville on the old N&W main. I remember riding No. 8 unaccompanied as a youngster, from Roanoke to Rice on a number of occasions in the mid-50's. The train was under Mr. Murray Via, conductor. My most vivid memory is that the mail clerks would come back to the coach, to socialize with the conductor and trainman. I was also invited (as the only passenger, typically) to join in. It was really special to me because the postal clerks were armed! I think they carried S&W short barrel revolvers. Visions of train robbers.......Anyhow I think the RPO was a small compartment. The coach was frequently a RF&P unit. I would take No.8 on Fridays and return to Roanoke on No.7 on Sundays.I had a great uncle who was a retired engineer on the Norfolk Division. Many of the engineers knew him and they would blow a "whipporwill" sort of sound as they approached his home just east of Rice. It sounded specially good when coming from a J.
JB Farley

-----Original Message-----
From: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
Sent: Wed, Oct 14, 2020 6:30 am
Subject: Re: RPO on N&W No. 8

Thanks, Frank, for your quick and always thorough response
Glenn
> On 10/14/2020 1:24 AM NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
>  
> On Tuesday, October 13, 2020, 01:19:42 PM EDT, Glenn Fisher wrote:
> 
> Frank:
> 
> Back in the mid-50s, N&W No. 8 from Roanoke to Norfolk carried a Mail and Baggage Car.  Was there a working RPO on board?
> 
> Glenn
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Hello, Glenn:
> 
> During 1955, Train 8 had a 15-feet apartment RPO according to the attached schedule page.  Please note that this RPO only operated with a clerk between Roanoke and Petersburg.  The apartment RPO may have remained in the train consist between Petersburg and Norfolk without a clerk or the car may have been switched out at Petersburg.  The bold-face train number indicates a RPO and the light-face train number shows that there was no RPO but closed-pouch mail was handled on the train.  "cu" means RPO daily except Sunday, closed pouch on Sunday, and "b" means daily except Sunday.
> 
> Best Autumn wishes,
> 
> Frank Scheer
> f_scheer at yahoo.com
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