Transport

Until the invention of railways, letters were carried by mail coach, cart, horse or on foot. The Post Office was quick to try out new methods of transport to improve delivery and it made use of railways as well as bicycles. By the end of the nineteenth century the Post Office was experimenting with steam, petrol and electric vehicles. 

The Mail Coach

John Palmer, a theatre owner from Bath, had introduced the first horse-drawn mail coach in 1784. It carried the mail from Bristol to London in 16 hours. This was much faster than the previous system where letters were carried between ‘posts’ by Post Boys on horses. The average speed of coaches was usually 7-8 miles per hour in the summer and 5 miles per hour in the winter.

The guard was the only Post Office employee on the mail coach and sat at the back, on top of the letters. He was heavily armed with two pistols to protect the mail coach against robbers.

The mail coach also carried passengers as well as the mail. However, the development of the railways in the early 1830s led to the end of the mail coaches. The last regular London-based coach service ended in 1846.

The Travelling Post Office

Mail was first carried by rail in 1830 and soon the expanding railway network was transporting most letters. Rowland Hill had the idea of sorting mail during its journey by horse-drawn mail coach.

This idea was even better suited for mail being transported by rail and the first ‘Travelling Post Office’ (TPO) was introduced in 1838. Letters could even be posted directly on to the sorting carriage of the train at a station. They were cancelled and sorted during the journey, saving a lot of time.

The very first TPO had been made out of a converted horsebox. It looked like a horse-drawn mail coach on rails. Work on the TPO was tiring and dangerous. Working conditions were dreadful as there was poor ventilation and no seating or sanitation. Between 1860 and 1867 there were 28 accidents in which TPO workers were seriously injured or killed.

The TPO had a collection net on its side that scooped the mailbags that had been hung up on the side of the track into the TPO as it passed by. This meant that the train did not have to stop to pick up the mail, making it faster.

Steamships

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was one of Britain’s most important engineers. He developed new ways to tunnel and build bridges. His inventions helped to speed up Britain’s transport system as he designed the railway between London and Bristol.

He also built the large steam ships which sailed from England to America, reducing the journey to fifteen days. The development of steam power was a major factor in the invention of both the railways and steam ships.

Long before the industrial revolution, packet boats would sail from Britain’s ports, connecting the country with other ports for trade. However, with the arrival of steam power, new steam packet boats were developed which were significantly faster. It also made the service more regular and reliable.

Brunel’s first steam ship, the Great Western, was launched in 1837 and carried mail to America.

You can find out more about Brunel in our exhibition Brunel Speeding the Mail.

Hen and Chickens 

Bicycles first became popular during the 1860s. In 1871 the Penny Farthing was invented. The Post Office started to investigate if bicycles could help with the delivery of the mail, especially as letter carriers’ loads were increasing due to the popularity of sending letters. Unfortunately, lots of letter carriers were not fit enough to be able to deliver the mail by bicycle, especially with the extra weight of their heavy mailbags.

In 1882 the ‘hen and chickens’ cycle was invented. The Post Office thought that these might be an interesting invention as they were very stable and could carry large baskets.

These ‘hen and chickens’ had a large central driving wheel with two smaller wheels and a large basket at both ends. However, they were considered too heavy and expensive, so the Post Office did not order more of them. They were also very difficult to steer.

You can find out more about postal transport by road in our exhibition Moving the Mail: Horses to Horsepower.