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Railroad service came to Toronto on May 16 1853 with the completion of track by what to become the Northern Railway. In 1855 the Grand Trunk Railway built a station for its use.

Three years later (1858) the North Railway began using the station constructed by the GTR thus creating the first Union Station. In 1873 and again in 1927 new Union Stations were constructed.

Union Station
1858 – 1871 First Union Station
1873 – 1927 – Second Union Station
1927 - present

There are two categories of railway marks associated with Toronto. The first category consists of those marks applied at Union Station. The second would be those marks related to mail carried by rail but, likely, applied at the main post office.

Railroad names in Canada are confusing. Mergers were a regular part of doing business but older names seem to have continued for long periods. By 1886 the Northern Railroad, having merged with the Hamilton & North Western earlier, was taken over by the Grand Truck Railway. (Shaw 1963 p47) But the Northern Railway mark is still being used in 1897 (see the illustration below).

Marks applied at Union Station

Union Station - Toronto Roller 1
Detail from Oct 18 1900 as below.

Union Station - Toronto Roller 2

Union Station - Toronto Roller 1

Pay $.051 on Oct 17 1900 for a package of 51 pounds. Cancelled with Union Station Toronto roller #1.

Pays $0.81 on Oct 22, 1900 for a package of 81 pounds. Cancelled with Union Station Toronto roller #1.

Pays 1 cent on Apr 11 1901 for a package of 1 pound. Cancelled with Toronto roller #6 (no Union Station indicator). Note that it appears to have been handled by the same receiving clerk as the transactions above.

Pays 4 cents on Apr 13 1901 for a package of 4 pounds. Cancelled with roller #6 (no Union Station indicator.

Marks likely applied at the Toronto main post office

I say the following marks were likely applied at the main post office in Toronto based on Wilsdon & Watmough's article in the Jul-Aug 1948 issue of BNA Topics explaining the usage of these marks. (Wilsdon 1948 p111)

Wilsdon & Watmough explain that on many railway lines there was no RPO service. Business owners along the line, wanting to get their mail off as quickly as possible, would go down to the station and hand their mail to the baggagemen on the train. The baggagemen, in turn, would post the mail on the appropriate RPO at the North Bay station. This apparently became so popular that the POD began placing mail boxes in the doorway of the baggage car, "one marked "North Bay" and the other "Toronto". When the mail arrived at the respective city it was taken by truck to the post office for handling.

The "Northern Railway" straightline mark is a precursor to the "Travelling Letter Box" marks and served the same purpose.

Likely the covers that follow were mailed in a "travelling letter box" either one in the baggage car or in one on the platform. At Toronto the mail was taken to the main post office and given a Toronto machine cancel and the "Northern Railway" or "Travelling Letter Box" cancels.

The question remains as to why the "Travelling Letter Box" or "Northern Railway" marks were applied at all. In conversations with members of the BNAPS RPO Study Group it has been suggested that there was pride in the post office for providing the fastest service possible. Toronto wanted to make sure that while the Toronto machine cancel made the cover appear to have originateed in Toronto, it actually originated elsewhere - in this case - from the Northern Railway.

At some point the mail from the travelling letter boxes increased in volume enough for the POD to create a machine canceller to replace the hand cancelling devices although uses of the hand canceller continued (see 1943 below)

Above is a table from the BNA Topics (Jul-Aug 1948 v6n5 p111) showing the various known travelling letter box marks used out of Toronto. (Click on the table for a larger view.) It is uncertain if the types are listed in date order by first appearance.

During a visit to Ottawa I was able to photograph the box above. Is it possible this type of box is related to the railway mail service?

Any information about the travelling letter box service would be appreciated. Please email me at charleslivermore@hotmail.com

Travelling Letter Box Covers

Shown in chronological order

1897

Cover pays 3 cent/half oz rate.

The origin of this Oct 6 1897 cover to Hamilton can't be determined - no return address nor advertising information is present. A Hamilton receiver is on the back.