mail train

mail train (plural mail trains)

1. (rail transport) A train used by the postal service to transport mail, and in some cases, to sort mail en route.
   • 1950 April, Timothy H. Cobb, “The Kenya-Uganda Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 263:

     A journey from Mombasa to Kampala is by no means dull. The mail train consists of about 13 carriages, three first, three second, three or four third, a restaurant car and two or three old first class non-corridor carriages used as seconds. This comes to about 400 tons tare. In addition there are two vans for crew and three or four covered freight trucks.

   • 1961 October, “Talking of Trains: B.R. exile at work?”, in Trains Illustrated, page 586:

     This cutting from an East African newspaper caught our eye last month:
     "The up mail train from Mombasa was held up for an hour at Kibwezi by an angry rhino on Monday night. The locomotive had collided with the rhino as it tried to cross the track. For some time the animal lay stunned between the rails but when it regained consciousness it was very irate. The engine driver, Mr. Mackenzie of Nairobi, tried unsuccessfully to frighten the rhino off the track but it refused to move. Eventually, it ran off into the bush and the train was able to proceed to Nairobi, where it arrived 28 minutes late."

   • 1962 December, “New station at Tamworth”, in Modern Railways, page 385:

     There are special rooms where mail can be stored and stacked ready for despatch and accommodation with cooking facilities for T.P.O. crews who change from one mail train to another at Tamworth.

   • 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 42:

     As he passed though the station, he slowed to yell to the signalman, Frank 'Sailor' Bridges: "Sailor - have you anything between here and Fordham? Where's the mail?" Gimbert knew the mail train was due, and he didn't want to endanger another train with his burning bomb wagon.

In times past, various express passenger trains that also carried mail had "Mail" in their names; an example of this is the Irish Mail.

• “mail train”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.