Modern TPO's

Inter-City Models sell DC Kits range of TPO's.

Pete.

Hornby have the current version of the old Tri-Ang bag-drop-and-grab van, if that's what you mean. Guy

Don't think it is currently available though I would think that somewhere some dealer has one still in stock. otherwise it is the 2nd hand market.

G.Harman

It's available in the Hornby LMS "Night Mail" train set R1144 with a Jinty loco and a brake/3rd coach, price £64 from Hattons. However, the mail coach appears to be labelled "Night Mail" rather than "Royal Mail".

Which if you actually read down the page says

"Stock Details Hattons guaranteed pre-order price, orderable now Is this item actually in stock? No On order.Latest estimated arrival date: Unknown"

Which I is much the same thing as saying they havn't got one. much the same on other mail order sites.

G.Harman

Modelzone have commissioned Bachmann to produce 4 versions of the TPO Sorting Van as an exclusive to them. It is due for release June/July 2010 so not too long to wait.

Details of one of the versions are at

I understand that Bachmann may make it more generally available at a later date.

Riddles

I bought one about 3 months back, so some people may still have stock. Guy

OK, I didn't read that far. But it is in the catalogue!

I bought one unboxed from a second-hand dealer about 15 years ago.

It looks on the various sites as that set is due anytime.

There are a couple of versions and variants there of. My genuine Tri-ang one was fairly short and had the offset corridor connections,The later version by present day Hornby was/is longer and has central corridor connections. Never looked at a Hornby Dublo one closely but that collected and ejected on the same side which is correct, The Tri-ang one hurls it's bags out the side which would be a bit impractical in real life.

Tri-ang had a version in their Transcontinental range* whose most accurate feature was the name as the models represented stock set in several continents,many countries and both hemispheres.But did any of those nations have TPO's that collected and dropped on the move?

• A relative to whom a train was a train gave me the dummy version of the Bo Bo Diesel for an early push along track I had when small. When you are 5 it was easy to think it was the Del tic prototype that I had just been shown passing near. It was only in later years I discovered it was supposed to be Australian and should be running on a track gauge nearer to 18mm that

16.5. Digressing I wonder if any modeling the Australian Broad gauge actually do build to the correct gauge for HO. I haven't got my maths head on this morning but it strikes me that using EM gauge components would be almost correct to represent 5ft 3" in HO.

G.Harman

An American example:

"Keith - G1XFL" wrote

If you're after a 'modern' TPO, then there's no such thing. The only mail trains which run today use EMUs which are sometimes (often) loco hauled on the WCML.

Since EWS lost the contract to carry mail on a large scale, van trains have become a thing of the past.

John.

I went aboard one in the Sacramento Railway Museum in the States. I am ex Post Office and knew several people who had served in our TPO's and it was interesting comparing notes with the guide who had been an American TPO man. It certainly had equipment to pick up and put down on the move.

Thanks for that link,now I've had a bit more time to look it seems the US started to drop and collect on the move almost about the same time as the UK. A major difference in the operations seems that their cars were attached to scheduled passenger trains whereas in Britain this only occurred in the early years with the TPOs running in dedicated mail trains for most of the time they were used.

Often wondered why the US called them Railway Post Offices when most of their lines were called Railroads. There were exceptions of course a large one being the Great Northern and in recent years many a Railroad Co has officially become a Railway Co when the original got into financial trouble and upon reforming needed a similar name. G.Harman

One of if not the first purpose built TPO coach that included apparatus for exchanging mail on the move built in 1839 - ran between Birmingham and Liverpool. When did the US start ?

Depends what you mean by early years - first 100 perhaps :-)

Cheers, Simon

As an Australian resident (Victoria), I have never seen one at the many model railway shows I have been to, nor have I heard of anyone actually referring to such a practice. Whilst I would be reluctant to say it never happens, I would be surprised if it's more than a small layout in a shed job, probably by an ex-UK resident...;) In fact, I have yet to come across too many people modelling UK prototypes who use anything other than OO or N, although I do know of 2 out of quite a few, one of whom also has a OO layout 'for the kids'.

If I were to be permitted to generalise, I would speculate that UK modelling has a much stronger focus on details due to the lack of space available to most people to build a layout, let alone one that can be easily transported in the smaller vehicles common in the UK compared to many parts of the world. This seems to be made up for in attention to detail such as track gauge, cameos, weathering, etc.

On the other hand, Australian modelling (and US modelling from what I've seen) has the benefit of a lot more space available and layouts tend to be more broad brush and less detailed as a result. In addition, being a smaller market, HO is the main gauge/scale used for RTR and if you are building a large layout then you tend to use a lot more RTR to get a quicker result than if you tried to do everything by hand. Typically, most Australian prototype exhibition layouts I've seen tend to be main lines with passing loops and a small goods yard. The buildings are usually straight or modified ready to plant or simple kits with maybe a handbuilt showpiece or two (eg a large grain silo and loading facilities). The attention then tends to go on the landscape with a handbuilt trestle bridge or similar being a common showpiece. There are variations (one that comes to mind represents Melbourne suburbia in the 50s/60s with trams and an impressive abundance of suburban and country trains along with representations of suitably iconcic structures) but these tend to stand out for their unusual subject matter. Mostly they're the main line described with small variations.

I guess what I'm saying is that I've never heard of gauge/scale purists here and I would surprised if many / any exist due to the very different approach to modelling here.

No doubt that may well set the cat amongst the pigeons, but I hope it gives an idea.

And recently regained in the name of DB Shenker

For the enlightenment of this ex-pat, are they using the postal EMUs again?

Yes they took over the contract from GB Railfreight

Thanks - these were different and therefore interesting.