Today we have a different sort of postman interview! Petr (aka Trainpostman) used to be a postman… for the a Czech Train Post Office! Petr worked there for 8 years, between 1990–1998 until the service closed in the end of the 90s.
Petr loved and missed his old job… so in 2009 he decided to put his design and photography skills to good use. He made a website called “The Museum of Czechoslovakian Train Post Office” to share his memories of his years working for it, inviting his former colleagues to contribute.
Photos by Jiri Vasku
In 2011, Petr took it a step further, and organized a real exhibition with the information he collected, on a railway mail carriage from 1971, parked in Bratislava. He recreated the experience of working on a Train Post Office, so that visitors could see and enjoy it as well!
He has been doing it ever since for special events (Day of Railways, Night of Museums, …) on different railway cars from different owners. Transferring such an exhibition is quite tricky but it gives him the unique opportunity to bring life back to these historical cars. They’ve been held in several different carriages, some of which were over 100 years old!
Railway post offices have been discontinued in most countries in the past decades, slowly replaced by modern sorting machines in sorting centers and trucks. Petr is bringing them alive now and then with his awe-inspiring recreations — and sharing his memories with those who visit his museum.
For more information about the Czech Train Post Office, lots of interesting photos and to be updated about upcoming activities, visit his website at muzeumvlakoveposty.com.
31 comments so far
This is very interesting and a great story. Thanks Petr! Your idea is wonderful.
What an interesting story! ^_^
Not that long ago... Museum for good memories! Thanks Petr!
Thanks for the story, like it, I am a postwoman myself!!
So cool :)
Great story!
Such an awesome story. :)
I've heard about railroad post offices and the most interesting part to me was the postmark placed on the mail. From what I understand, it is an ink stamp marked "RR" with whatever cities the train was travelling between. Am I correc? I'll be checking out the website for more info. Thank you.
Great story! Petr, you must love what you're doing!!
Best place for sooooooo many stories to follow and start...:O)
THANK YOU!!!
Great story!
What a marvellous story and what a marvellous initiative, Petr!Thanks!
Cool! Is it possible to send postcards and covers from the museum with special postmarks?
this reminds me to the fact' t
hat my grandfather worked on a railway train office from 1905 on once a week on the night train from vienna to trieste. each time he wrote a postcard from trieste to my grandmother. all these cards are now part of my collection.
fridrich bock
Dear Friedrich (Bock). I prepare for my magazine "Czechoslowak Train Post Offices" an article about Austrias TPO´s . Your grandfathers TPO was Viena - Trest no. 8 and no. 9. They were based in 1851. Do you have any memories of his work? Could you please send me sken his postcards? My mail: vlakovaposta@email.cz. Many thanks. Petr Student - Brno, Czech Republic.
Dear Ctahrine (Norway girl). In cooperation with Czech Post we prepare special stamp in june 2015. Follow the museum on facebook profile (https://www.facebook.com/Vlakovaposta) or website (www.vlakovaposta.cz).Petr (Trainpostman)
Thank you for the interesting story....
Betsy (betslets), railway postmarks differed from country to country. Those from the USA that I have seen, show the name of the railroad and the letters TPO or RPO. In Germany, they were mostly oval, and showed the stations between which the train traveled. So did the Luxemburg railway postmarks, but they were mostly circular. Likewise in the Soviet Union. In Switzerland, they only had the inscription "Ambulant" (= traveling) and the number of the traveling post office. The French had wavy circle postmarks with the station names. Just a few examples I found in a postmark database put together by German stamp collectors.
Railway Post Offices here in Ireland were known as TPOs or travelling post offices. Their distinct postmarks are prized among philatelists. You can read a little a about them and see them here : http://irishrailwaymodelling.net/content.php/323-Travelling-Post-Office
Very interesting story. I had not heard of train post offices before this.
What a great idea. So sad that this type of service has disappeared. Good on you Petr for keeping it alive and sharing it with generations to come.
Very interesting story.Many year ago,about in 1990S ,China railway system had some kinds of railway post offices ,I still remember in my childhood time ,I sending letter in the train post office.they used special postmark. Now this kind of railway post offices in China railway system almost disappeared.
Great people done great things!
Very nice pictures and story! There are parts of my old job as a postal worker that I miss, also. Not sure I would have had the balance required for sorting in a train car! I hope your other articles will be available online, Petr.
Really inspiring story! Thank You, Petr!
Great article and photos of the U.S. Railway Mail Service here:
http://postalmuseumblog.si.edu/2014/08/150th-anniversary-of-railway-mail-service.html
Enjoy!
Carol
This is very interesting! Thank you for the work in arranging it, Trainpostman. And Thank you, Postcrossing for sharing it with us.
So cool! :D I can see why Petr LoVed his job :D Enjoyed the insight to a different style of postie ...thanks for sharing!
Thanx for sharing the interesting story! :)
Thank you so much for keeping this piece of history alive, Petr.
I didn't know that such a thing exists. I am even surprised that they have shut it down. Thank you so much Petr for keeping this very valuable piece of history alive for us.
May be some day I too will get chance to have this wonderful experience at your museum. Thanks a million for sharing!
Live long and prosper
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