Print

Working on the Trains

By Stig Nimb Pedersen

Already when the railway section Copenhagen-Roskilde opened in 1847, there was a special wagon for mail, and when the section was extended to Korsør, mail handling during the train ride began. The wagons were equipped with shelves in 1863 so that the mail could be sorted on the way. The moving post office was born.


The name mail wagon came later. When the train ferries began to sail on the Great Belt in 1883, the mail could be conveyed to the island of Funen without reloading.

The first mail wagons were heated by stoves and illuminated by kerosene lamps. Although the mail often took up space in the cloakroom as well as in the toilets, there had to be room for an arm chair for the parcel post foreman. The work was hard – imagine writing with a pen and ink in a shaking wagon. Moreover, you had the intense heat from the stove, sweat, bad ventilation, dust, and smoke from the hot sealing wax. Some of the wagons were so small that you could hardly stand up inside. In 1906, the Danish Post Periodical could announce that "better times seem to be ahead" because new wagons were being built with hot water, WC, and electric light. Only in the late 50’s new mail wagons were again inserted – with strip lights, oil burner, and radiators.

During World War II they burned brown coal and peat which was often wet. Sometimes the staff could borrow some fuel from the engine driver. They only saw their families once every two months. A small comfort was the good comradeship in the places of sojourn away from home.

On 12th June 1997 a 5 kr. stamp will be issued on the occasion of the discontinuation of the mail train service.


Print

All rights reserved. No part of this website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or ortherwise, whitout the prior written permission of the publisher.