IRM RPO Days – June 13 and 14
June 13 and 14 (Saturday and Sunday) will feature former RPO (Railway Post Office) clerks at the Illinois Railway Museum (IRM). Eight or more former clerks are expected to be on site with most on Saturday. Many of these men will be making their first catches from a moving RPO for the first time in over 40 years.
An additional highlight will be the Union, Illinois Post Office canceling mail with a special cancellation remembering the adjacent UP (former C&NW) rail line where the Chicago & Freeport RPO once operated. IRM will be selling cachets with the special postal cancellation as a fundraiser to repaint the RPO car (former CB&Q 1923).
Without the assistance of numerous volunteers at IRM, this event could not take place. The Passenger Car Department is preparing CB&Q 1923 (combination baggage and RPO) for this event. The Operating Department is altering the normal operation of the diesel coach train to allow two mail catches on each run. Thank you all at IRM for recreating the RPO operation.
RPO catches began at IRM with the donation of a mail crane three years ago. In September 2007, N.J. Shacklette and John Rothwell arranged for Andy Koval, a former RPO clerk dying of cancer to make one more catch. A year later, in September 2008, with the encouragement of Shacklette and Rothwell, I arranged for both Frank Scheer, curator of the Railway Mail Service Library in Boyce, Virginia, and Ed DeRouin, author of Moving Mail and Express by Rail (2007), to come to IRM and tell the story of the RPO. The 2008 event brought four former clerks to IRM to each make anther catch. One of last year's participants was so excited that he is bringing five other former clerks to the Museum on June 13 and 14.
Unlike 2008, there are no formal talks planned. Instead, the RPO clerks will do the talking. This year's RPO days at IRM does two things. First, this event brings together 8 or more former clerks to share their experiences with visitors and to have the opportunity to make another catch. Second, this event allows these former clerks to share their stories of working on the rails with the public.
Come on out to IRM on June 13 and 14 to meet these former clerks. The website for IRM is www.irm.org.
I thank all at IRM who are making this event possible and for the former clerks traveling to IRM to share their stories.
Jon Habegger
Comments
Fri, 03-29-2024 21:26
We're slackers and spend more time working on the equipment in the shop than keeping all you readers updated. We'll work on it, but I'm sure updates [...]
Thu, 03-14-2024 08:02
What happened to the Department Blog? It's been over 2 years and I still regularly check for updates, but nothing comes...
Mon, 12-27-2021 16:28
Happy New Year to all the Departments at the Illinois railway Museum! Thanks for all the good work you do in railroad preservation. Ted Miles, [...]
Wed, 10-13-2021 13:33
Was the CB&Q 1309 every transported to IRM?I’ve been reading old issues of Rail&Wire and the car was mentioned several times.
Mon, 06-07-2021 22:40
I was wondering if in the model layout display what scale would you guys be using and would you be displaying model train history as well? Just [...]
Wed, 06-02-2021 17:27
Nice to see 428's cab back on. Looking forward to when it is operable!
Tue, 06-01-2021 16:47
I hope the work will continue on the UP #428. Now that they are the museum's connection to the national railroad network; she would be very [...]
Sat, 04-17-2021 23:07
What is the status of 126, the Milwaukee Buffet car that is in S. Dakota? Any guess on when or if it will get to IRM?
Wed, 04-14-2021 21:09
Perhaps it is time to scrap the remains of the c, B & Q 7128 to make room for the Villa Real. Ted miles, IRM member
Wed, 04-14-2021 15:26
Hi IRM my name is Jason and I was wonder If you guys would be willing to save a CN Dash8-40cm they are currently being retired by CN and being [...]
Fri, 04-09-2021 19:56
Bear in mind that the Nebraska Zephyr is an articulated train set, so cars cannot be inserted at will. Although cars and/or a second engine could be [...]
Wed, 03-31-2021 11:37
I believe Silver Pony is currently on the back burner, and has been put into storage in one of the barns. The car needs a lot of work done to it's [...]