The handling and delivery of mail has always been a serious business, underpinned
by the trust of the public in requiring timeliness, safety, and confidentiality. After early
beginnings using horseback and stagecoach, and although cars and trucks later replaced
stagecoaches and wagons, the Railway Mail Service still stands as one of America’s most
(5)resourceful and exciting postal innovations. This service began in 1832, but grew slowly
until the Civil War. Then from 1862, by sorting the mail on board moving trains, the Post
Office Department was able to decentralize its operations as railroads began to crisscross
the nation on a regular basis, and speed up mail delivery. This service lasted until 1974.
During peak decades of service, railway mail clerks handled 93% of all non-local mail and
(10)by 1905 the service had over 12,000 employees.

Railway Post Office trains used a system of mail cranes to exchange mail at
stations without stopping. As a train approached the crane, a clerk prepared the catcher
arm which would then snatch the incoming mailbag in the blink of an eye. The clerk then
booted out the outgoing mailbag. Experienced clerks were considered the elite of the
(15)Postal Service’s employees, and spoke with pride of making the switch at night with
nothing but the curves and feel of the track to warn them of an upcoming catch. They also
worked under the greatest pressure and their jobs were considered to be exhausting and
dangerous. In addition to regular demands of their jobs they could find themselves the
victims of train wrecks and robberies.

(20) As successful as it was, “mail-on-the-fly” still had its share of glitches. If they hoisted
the train’s catcher arm too soon, they risked hitting switch targets, telegraph poles or
semaphores, which would rip the catcher arm off the train. Too late, and they would miss
an exchange.