<<
M&E Trains (mail and express) are a category all their own and interesting to
model... The C&EI car is a class "Bx" car, defined as "A box car (new, rebuilt
or converted) constructed and equipped to render it suitable for passenger
train
service ..."
They were used a lot to haul mail that had already been sorted to a
destination.
Sometimes that could be in a regular passenger train consist and other times in
dedicated M&E trains that ran on passenger schedules – think of the "Fast
Mail"... In the case of the C&EI cars, mail storage service was probably to
cities on the line. They could also carry express packages for the post office
or on contract to REA, although less later. I have at least one reference to a
C&EI express box car in a 44-car Pennsy M&E train from NYC to Philadelphia on
December 22, 1965; all mail and packages as part of that year's Christmas rush.
If you want to dig further, RMC did a two-part article on head end cars in
April
and May 1992. There is also a book with the highly original title of "Moving
Mail and Express by Rail" (E. M. DeRouin, Pixels Publishing, 2007). I should
warn you though; the book is a research tool - full of charts, documents, train
movements and consists for M&E train geeks - like me...! <G>
Jim Kindraka
Plymouth, WI
>>
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your reply.
I recall the RMC articles. I probably have them stashed somewhere. Looks like I
ought to track down DeRouin's book. I also have the articles on BX Express Box
Cars in Railway Prototype Cyclopedia Vols. 6 & 8. C&EI #1 is pictured in Vol. 6
and #2-5 in Vol. 8. I wish I had some sightings of these cars circa 1950 in the
Southeast. They probably made it down here, but I'd like to see for myself. I'm
thinking mail storage would be the most likely use, but maybe C&EI bought them
for specific traffic.
Jack Wyatt
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