Mail by rail

oon after the invention of railways they were used to carry mail. Prior to 1891 railway companies accepted letters tied with string and they were carried ‘express’ to the nearest station to the addressee, who then collected the ‘parcel’. The Post Office resented this abuse of their monopoly for carrying the mail, so on 1 February 1891, an agreement between the Post Office and several railway companies came into force under which letters could be carried more quickly than the normal postal service. For this benefit the railways could charge an additional fee,