Liverpool and Manchester Railway mail coach

Resource Type: Image | Posted on 24th October 2011 by Liam Physick

One of the images donated to Metal by Eric Shenton. This shows a coach from the mail train on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, though oddly enough it has passengers inside it: presumably the suitcase on top contains the mail, with the guard keeping a watchful eye on it. The letters “WR” on the side of the coach stand for “William Rex” - William IV, King from 1830 to 1837. When the Liverpool and Manchester Railway began in 1830, the Railway Company made an agreement to carry mail on its services. Under the Railways (Conveyance of Mails) Act 1838, railway companies were required to carry mail. The mail trains evolved into the Travelling Post Offices (TPOs), which lasted until 2004. TPOs are probably best remembered for the Great Train Robbery, in which a gang of men stole £2.3 million from such a train travelling from Glasgow to London in 1963

Tagged under: liverpool and manchester railway, eric shenton, coaches, carriages, bury prints, passengers, thomas talbot bury, mail trains, great train robbery, travelling post offices

Categorised under: Landmarks, Landscapes & Locomotives