1965 Last Mail Train
February 29, 2008 – 8:01 pm
May 20, 1965
UPDATE
Thanks to an assist from Bruce Petty with Los Angeles River Railroads we now have the correct date. According to a post on their website the Coast Mail was nicknamed Sad Sam.
The page also says mail trains were slower than others because of the time needed to load and unload mail and other items like milk and cream.
The U.S. Post Office abandoned rail delivery as they went to large processing facilities on highways away from the rails. Train 151 rolled northbound into the San Luis Obispo station about 7 A.M. ending a ritual started in 1895. Southern Pacific had frequent passenger rail service before they became strictly a freight hauler.
At right Railroader Al Mazza tosses a mail sack into the mail car.
