The records consist of correspondence relating to the establishment, extension, discontinuance and reduction of railway and water service throughout Canada and to Newfoundland. Included here is correspondence dealing with delays (accidents, wash-outs, etc.), equipment and supplies on postal cars, duties and conduct of railway mail clerks, mistreatment and mishandling of mail and mail logs, side service contractors, summer service, catch posts, and list of post offices served.
Canada. Post Office Dept. Rail and Water Services Division : After 1851, the movement of mail was facilitated by the railway construction boom throughout the country. Compared to the mere 66 miles that existed in 1851, by 1857 there were over 1,400 miles of railway track in Canada East and Canada West. The use of travelling post office cars with mail clerks sorting and dispensing the mails from the railway began in England in 1838. In Canada, the system was first employed in 1854 between Niagara Falls and London.
While involving heavy expenditures for the purchase of special rolling stock and the hiring of Railway Mail Clerks (RMCs), the use of trains proved to be indispensable for moving the ever-increasing volume of mail from one part of the country to another. The Railway Mail Clerks soon became known as the elite employees of the postal service and in 1897, the Railway Mail Branch was established.
By 1948 the Railway Mail Service Division was a part of the Communication Branch and was responsible for investigating and recommending proposals for establishing, extending, curtailing, or discontinuing railway mail services; negotiating rates and completing contracts; and maintaining records for use in passing accounts for payment for air mail services contracts. By 1961 the division was under the jurisdiction of the Chief Superintendent of Planning and Research, Transportation Branch and in 1964 the name was changed from the Railway Mail Services Division to the Rail and Water Services Division. In 1971, faced with the knowledge that other modes of transportation were replacing trains, the Post Office Department disbanded the Railway Mail Division. The Manager National Transportation Services was then made responsible for the administration of contracts for air, rail and water. RG3 General Inventory and Canada Post Office: An Organizational History, 1841-1974, p. 44, 59, 188.
