I found this book very interesting, full of information, well researched, and informative.
I learned a lot in an enjoyable way.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Peter Johnson’s new book, Mail by Rail, is a highly comprehensive history of the carriages provided by British railway companies for the use of the Post Office (PO). These were known as Travelling Post Offices (TPOs), although Travelling Sorting Offices would be a more accurate description. Post Office staff would sort letters in the carriage as the journey progressed, rather than sorting them in a building and then taking the bags to a train. The TPOs meant that several hours could be saved and thus post was delivered to its destination more quickly. Peter Johnson is the UK expert on TPOs, having written about them for over 25 years.

The book comprises several sections, all beautifully illustrated with photos, diagrams and etchings from old newspapers:
a) The history of mail travelling by rail from 1830 onwards, when sealed bags of letters were simply loaded onto a train rather than a mail coach. Mail was first sorted in transit on the rails in 1837. The chapter has about an extra page of text covering the period after Johnson’s 2009 book.
b) The history of the apparatus used to exchange bags with ground staff whilst the train is travelling at speed. I was intrigued to read that a live kitten was sent in a box by mail (along with a bottle of milk with a tube through the cork) and had experienced the jolt of the exchange. Poor mite!
c) The chapter on TPO services lists every service that was ever run, e.g. Cardiff-Glasgow and Carlisle-Peterborough. It gives the dates that each service commenced and ceased, together with any noteworthy events in between. This is very comprehensive indeed.
d) In the chapter on TPO Rolling Stock, I learned that the idea of a corridor train was developed by the Midland Railway in the 1850s in order to assist Post Office staff who used a separate vehicle for stowage. The chapter takes each railway in turn and describes every type of vehicle they used in great detail. It also documents haggling between the Post Office and GWR, for example, over the costs of altering vehicles to the GPO’s requirements. The PO was upset to discover that, after WWII, the GWR was prioritising the manufacture of fish vans over that of travelling post offices!
e) Two chapters cover accidents and the claims for damages arising from them. I do like the way that Johnson has gone to the trouble of researching the names of victims, thus ensuring they aren’t just statistics.
f) The final two chapters deal with the Post Office’s underground railway, first mooted in the 1860s but not fully opened until 1928. It linked the main stations and sorting offices in London, using driverless trains. This was closed in 2003 but a section was re-opened for visitors to the Postal Museum in 2017.
g) There are 18 (!) appendices covering even more detail. (I told this book was comprehensive!)

Johnson admits in the Introduction to the new book that a lot of the material has been seen in his previous books. I haven’t read his 1995 book, also called Mail by Rail, but I do have a copy of his 2009 An Illustrated History of the Travelling Post Offices. The first noticeable difference between this latest book and the 2009 one is that the new book benefits significantly from the availability of old newspapers via the British Newspaper Archive. Johnson now cites many newspapers to illustrate his points.

My only (very minor) criticisms are
a) The map of the UK that opens the book looks really weird without Anglesey!

b) Johnson has an over-relaxed attitude towards dates. He mentions a 1657 Act of Parliament; then states “At this time […]” before giving an example from 1706. I was puzzled by using “Around this time” to encompass a gap of fifty years. The Introduction states that it’s nearly 100 years since the release of the 1936 film, Night Mail. I suppose it depends whether you consider 86 is nearly 100. I don’t – I reckon 86 is still sprightly late middle-age but 100 is old!

The book demonstrates the huge amount of research that Johnson has carried out over many years. It has sections of interesting narrative interspersed with lists of detail that will leave general readers cold. The question is: is it worth buying? If you have one of the earlier editions of the book, then there probably isn’t enough new material to justify the cost. If you don’t have one of the earlier versions and you have an interest in trains; the Post Office; or communications, then yes, it is (although Pen and Sword are perhaps rather ambitious in their pricing). However, in these days of tight budgets, you could look for a second-hand copy of the earlier editions and get 90% of the material for around 10-20% of the cost.

#MailbyRail #NetGalley

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This was an interesting and very in depth read of the history of mail trains through the years. I enjoyed reading about the history of the mail trains. The pictures dispersed throughout the book was great.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was very interesting. I learned a lot from reading it.

An interesting romp through the history of mail by rail which begins surprisingly early in the history of railways. Well illustrated throughout this book provides a look at the network of mail trains, both expanding and contracting, as well as a look at the Post Office Railway that ran beneath the streets of London. The changing demands of the post network and the 'improvements' made are assessed before concluding with some of the older mail vans in preservation meaning readers can follow up with visits to places of interest.

A well produced volume, knowledgeably written but with readability in mind.

Thank you Net Galley for an ebook of Mail by Rail by Peter Johnson. After visiting the Postal Museum in London a few years ago, I was intrigued by this system. Mail by Rail did not disappoint with the level of research and detail in this book. The Royal Mail System is amazing. The numerous photos in this book helped bring the text to life to see the ways the mail got onto a train and how it was sorted on a carriage. If you want to learn more about how mail moved around the UK from the 1800s to now, this book will give you everything you need to know.

detailed book and very technical on trains and postmarks , this book would suit either train spotters or stamp collectors. found it interesting as learnt new things.

I was interested in this book as I like history and I'm also someone who writes letters so it's been nice to see some of the history of how mail used to be delivered.
I think this contains some very satisfying content to the right reader, however I do feel some of the enjoyment for myself was lost by reading this as an ebook. I think this would be better as a physical book so you could look at the various photographs in greater detail. But overall I liked it.