Mail service
Did DB trains carry mail during the Era III period? If so, was mail carried in special cars or wagons? Gary

I have a question that follows on from that. The mail coaches I have seen in pictures were part of normal passenger formations, rather than the dedicated mail only trains common in the UK prototype photos. What was the usual method of working with the mail coaches? Simply loading them at each station as the train stopped? I think I remember reading that with branch lines, but main lines are still a blank for me in terms of detail. And I have modelling German railways for a while now too :?

At most major stations there was a main post office nearby with its own sidings and mail coaches would be switched into those sidings for loading and unloading. At smaller stations the loading and unloading would take place during a scheduled station stop. Though many postal coaches ran in regular passenger trains, there were also dedicated Express trains which handled only mail and package express. These would be a combination of postal coaches, baggage coaches and some passenger-equiped mail vans for bulk mailbags. These trains usually ran at night, so they weren't photographed terribly often. I need to model a couple of these trains and I'm finding it challenging to find enough appropriate equipment. Jurgen

Have a look at the Epoch III/IV models on my website. www.disrubahn.piczo.com which show some of the Bundespost coaches available in HO scale. David

Thanks Jurgen. David, thanks too, and your models look great. Just to amplify, I'm planning a Z Scale model railway, with a branch line flavour.

It's also worth noting that the Deutsche Bundespost also operated a network of Postbusse (Postal Busses). They operated between train stations and post offices and out into the countryside, not only providing passenger transportation, but also serving as a connection for mail transport. These bright yellow busses were a common sight on German roads for many decades, in much the same way as the DB's own red busses were. Jurgen

Were the DR the same in Epoch 3?

Do those red and yellow buses still operate? I was in Germany in May/June this year, but don't recall seeing anything like that. When I was there back in 1981 I'm sure I saw the yellow Post buses, in Baden-Wurttemberg.

As far as I am aware, DR carried mail in largely the same way as DB did. However, Deutsche Post (der DDR) did not operate buses, and neither did DR (Wikipedia says, after 1954). This was mainly the job of the various branches of VEB Kraftverkehr, usually based in major towns, and some smaller operators. Postbus and Bahnbus do not exist any more as such, although one could find buses in the red DB liveries until the late-ish 1990s. It appears that Deutsche Bundespost gave up their bus business in the early 1980s in favour of DB, and the latter turned its bus operations into regional corporations in the 1990s (still under the roof of Deutsche Bahn).

Many Postal authorities were envious of Royal mails distribution networking and Deutshes Bundespost introduced the equivalent of the long distant T.P.O in the 1980’s. Has anyone information on these trains. David

Thanks as always Jan-Martin!

Roger, you are welcome. David, can you be a bit more specific? All I can say is that there were long-distance travelling (railway) post offices in Germany, too, where mail was processed (i. e. sorted) on the train. Express letters usually got backstamped by them, so that one had evidence of how long they travelled (and which way - sometimes surprising). Mail coaches also had letter boxes so that one could post a letter on or just before departure. These letters also got railway postmarks. Deutsche Bahn, however, ended all railway mail services in 1997. Jan-Martin

Jan-Martin, I am very interested in any long distance Postal trains that call at Wupperal Elberfeld. I think that I have the main gist of postal workings using the Bahnpost centre at Elberfeld.as you can see from my ever growing fleet of DBP coaches. I had a lot of experience with TPOs during my time with Royal Mail. The letter box was also a feature in the UK,just add an extra penny to the cost of a first class stamp and post it through the letter box on the coach side. I used this service many times to order my models from London based shops. The letters were stamped with the name of the TPO. ie-Up Special TPO. David

This is scan of a 1973 DB Mail Express from München to Hamm: You'll notice all the cars from other routes in brackets being added and removed all along the route. There was a lot of connections to be made and switching to do enroute for a mail express. The variety of equipment is interesting, too. A large number of the cars were MD provisional baggage coaches. I'd like to see a picture of the Grss-v; I'm not sure what that is, but I think it's a modified goods van. Jurgen