Railway Mail Service

I have ancestors that were postmasters and mail clerks and ancestors that worked on the railroad. But not an ancestor that was a mail clerk ON the railroad! 

British Rail TPO vehicle

In Canada the railway postal workers were paid by the Auditor General and in some sessional papers the clerks were named with their salary amount.   

Sessional papers 1924, pg 85

In the United States Railway Mail Service employees were listed in the Official Register of the United States beginning in 1867.

Official Register of the United States 1867, pg 753

The postmaster and employees are named in the Proceedings of the Parliament for Australia, but I have not yet come across where rail mail clerks are listed, if in fact they are listed separately.


Relevant links

Canadian Railway Mail Service

Official Register of the United States 1867

Railway Mail Clerks in Canada and their salaries and bonuses

Trans-Australian Railway

The Travelling Post Office

American Railway Mail Service

Mail by rail : the story of the Postal Transportation Service 1951

Annual Report of the Postmaster General – US – no names, but salaries and pensions

1901 Report to the Postmaster General, Washington DC

Casualties of Rail Mail Service, US

Casualties where someone was killed, and relief for injured employees, US

More books on Rail Mail




Related Posts

The Post Office

Canada 150 - Post Offices and Letter Carriers

Check your own files!

You are all familiar with Engineer John McTeer who died a tragic death in a train accident. In that post I told you about the Locomotive Engineer and Fireman Magazines available online. I had looked through them and found a bit that said John Mcteer was secretary for a branch in Montreal, where he was living at the time. 

Today a member of another Facebook Group asked about researching engineers in Scotland. So I checked over my several Railway posts and one entry caught my eye.

On 3 October 2016 I posted an article titled Railway Directories and Wages. Going down the list of links, the very last is "Souvenir Quebec, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers 1907".  

Souvenir, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers 1907

What???? John belonged to the Brotherhood when he lived in Montreal.  He had moved back from  Bisbee to Quebec in 1902. Hmmmmm.  Let's take a look!

Sure enough...

Souvenir Quebec 

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 1907, pg 58

Portrait No.1 - John McTeer, Vice-Chairman, Committee of Arrangements.

The moral of this story is... when researching an ancestor, research in your own files. You may already have what you are looking for!

Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen

I have quite a few railroad ancestors on my tree. Some were engineers, and a new-found husband of an ancestor was a locomotive fireman before later becoming an engineer. 

When John McTeer married Sarah Anne King, my grandmother's aunt, he was a locomotive fireman from Chaudiere Station, Quebec City, now working in Montreal for the Grand Trunk Railroad. 

In 1884 John McTeer was secretary for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen at the Montreal lodge. 

Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's magazine, 1884, pg 122

Sometime in 1888 John moved to Bisbee Arizona and became a locomotive engineer for the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad. 

In 1902 John McTeer moved back to Canada, at Limoilou, Quebec City, and was working for the Quebec & Lake St John Railway (owned by Canadian Northern). On 10 August 1914 John's train came to a bridge that he discovered too late was afire. The engine fell through, killing the fireman and injuring John. He died in hospital four days later.

Quebec Daily Telegraph, 14 Aug 1914, pg 4

I found in the 1914 issue of the Brotherhood magazine a Statement of Death and Disability Claims. (No mention of John McTeer though). There are more on the previous page with amounts of insurance.

Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's magazine, Sept 1914, pg 386

In the UK it is the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen.



Relevant Links

Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen's Magazine

Different Brotherhood publications at Internet Archive

Locomotive engineers and firemen's (UK) monthly journal

Locomotive engineers and firemen's monthly journal, UK - Vol 1, 1888

Souvenir, Canadian union meeting, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and Ladies' Society, Calgary 1914

Schedules of rates of pay and rules governing locomotive enginemen 1902

Locomotive Fireman's Duties

The Canadian first, second and third year examinations for engineers and firemen, 1912

The Footplate: Victorian Locomotive Engine drivers', Firemen's and Cleaners' Association.

Canada 150 - Railway and Marine World

During our country's 150th anniversary celebration of confederation I will write posts titled Canada 150 with a link to a publication or website I find that may help you tell the story of your Canadian ancestors.
Click on the Canada 150 label on the right or at the bottom to see all the posts.

Today I have for you...

Canadian Transport

The Railway and Marine World

Index at beginning of each year has names under Appointments and Biographical. There are names throughout but especially look for personals, birthday list every month's issue, and a section titled "Mainly About People".

Mainly About People – June 1913,pg 274

Relevant Links

Canadian Transportation: Canadian Railway & Marine World

More issues and HathiTrust

Railway Directories and Wages

Many of my ancestors worked in some capacity for the railroad.... steamfitter, engineer, car builder, yardman, general labourer. In searching for information, I came across these directories and publications.

Some have information about the railroad with a list of officials...

You may also find biographies, some with portraits...

Relevant Links

Ashcroft's railway directory: containing an official list of all the officers and directors of the rail-roads in the United States &Canada – 1862-1866

The biographical directory of the railway officials of America

Poor's Directory of railway officials and directors, 1887

An illustrated biographical directory of officials of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway system 1908

The railway purchasing agent's directory, containing directions where to purchase every article used in constructing and operating railways, also a list of railways, with name and address of officials in charge of purchasing departments, 1900

Records of the New England Association of Railway Superintendents w/members

The Official Railway List:  A directory published in Chicago 1884

Bradshaw's railway manual, shareholders' guide and official directory, London 1905

Bradshaw's railway manual, shareholders' guide and official directory, London 1915

Locomotive Engineers Journal

American Locomotive engineers:  Erie Railway edition, illustrated 1899

Report of the railway commissioners of the Province of New Brunswick

Rates of pay and regulations governing employees in trainand yard service on the principal railroads of the United States, Canada and Mexico – 1892

Railway trainmen's earnings, 1916 (Assn of American Railroads)

A comparative study of railway wages and the cost of living in the United States, the United Kingdom and the principal countries of continental Europe, 1912

Grand Trunk Railway, list of Shareholders, Oct 1875

Souvenir Quebec, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 1907

Take it to the Streets

By now you all know the story of my great-grand uncle Horace, a Street Railway Motorman. I wrote about him in the blog post "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!" and also in my family history blog post "The Day Horace got Stoned". Horace got hit in the head with a brick 113 years ago during the Street Railway Strike of February 6th, 1903.

Today we are going to pay homage to the Streetcar Workers.

Trainmen in Streetcar 1905

My grandparents didn't have a car. They lived in Verdun (now par of Montreal) and both of them took the Street Railway to work. I remember the tracks and power lines in Montreal that took the streetcars all over the city. Even after there were only buses my Granny still called them streetcars.

Perhaps you will discover your ancestor mentioned in one or more of these publications.


Relevant Links

The only official souvenir history of the street railway employees strike of San Francisco, April 19 to 26, 1902

Electric Railway Review / Journal 1906-1921

Street Railway Journal

The Motorman and Conductor: Official journal of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America,1908-1928

Motorman and Conductor: 1904-1921

In Transit: Official journal of the Amalgamated Transit Union 1902-1923 (2008)

Annual Meeting of the American Street Railway Association,USA 1897

Street Railway Gazette, Chicago 1886-1887

Annual report of the board of directors of the Rutland Railroad Company, VT 1908

Proceedings of the American Electric Railway Engineering Association 1911

Report of the Winnipeg Electric Railway Company ... 1921-22

Agreement and schedule of wages between B.C. Electric Railway Company Ltd., Western Canada Power Co. Ltd., B.C. Telephone Co. Ltd.,and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers – 1916

Rates of wages and hours of labour; street railway conductors and motormen. Canada 1914-1919

Poor's directory of railway officials and manual of American street railways 1890

Souvenir and official programme : fourteenth annual convention of the American Street Railway Association held in Montreal, Oct 1895

Proceedings of the American Electric Railway

Yearbook of the American Electric Railway Association and its affiliated associations

Brighton Tramway Corporation

Toronto as seen from the street cars : a passenger souvenir for visitors and residents 

Street Railway Review, Chicago (talks of Street Railways in other countries)

Vancouver Street and Street Car Directory 1910

Serendipity Sunday - The Railway Club

While doing some research for my grandmother's company, I came across publications of Official Proceedings of the Canadian Railway Club in Montreal, of which the previous owner of the company was a member. As well as being a supplier for the railroad companies he had a relative that worked for the railroad.

The Canadian Railway Club is a non-profit organization started in 1902, and incorporated in 1913, with its headquarters in Montreal. Members of the club are employees of a railway, such as CN, CP, VIA or AMT, or railroad supply companies. The annual membership fee was $2.00

The purpose of the club is to promote industry knowledge and network through meetings and social gatherings.

The Official Proceedings list names of members. Here are others I found.


Relevant Links

Canadian Railway Club, Montreal - Internet Archive

Canadian Railway Club, Montreal - HathiTrust

Western Railway Club, Chicago IL

The Pacific Railway Club, San Francisco

North West Railway Club

The Railway Club of Pittsburgh

Central Railway Club of Buffalo

New England Railroad Club, Boston

The New York Railraod Club

The Saint Louis Railway Club

South and Southwestern Railway Club, Atlanta

Journal of the Railway Signal Association

Richmond Rail Club, Virginia




Related Posts:

Workin on the Railroad

All Aboard!

Workin' on the Railroad!

People that worked for Canadian government departments were often mentioned and paid under the Auditor General Report. These reports were sent to the House of Commons and the Senate during sessions of Parliament. We have covered Postmasters, the Office of Indian Affairs and Census Enumerators and today we will dive into the Sessional Papers of the Dominion of Canada for some Railway workers. Specifically those of the Intercolonial Railway (1872-1918), The Windsor Branch, the Prince Edward Island Railway (1871-1918) and the National Transcontinental Railway 

Intercolonial Depot, New Glasgow, NS: Courtesy McCord Museum

In the Sessional Papers of 1906 they reported not only the expenses of running the railways, but also the names and wages of all the employees - those in the shops, the yards and those on the trains.

In some of the previous pages you may find names of porters, secretaries and officials.



Relevant Links

Intercolonial Railroad Workers and Wages - 1906 (Pg W210)

Intercolonial Travel of Officials - 1906 (Pg W205)

The Windsor Branch Railway - 1906 (Pg W316)

Prince Edward Island Railway 1906 (Pg W317)

National Transcontinental Railway 1906 (Pg W328

Railroad Workers in Sessional Papers 1916 - start here

Railroad Workers in Sessional Papers 1903  - start here

Return of Accidents and Casualties on the Intercolonial Railway lines - 1902

Employees Provident Fund of the Intercolonial and Prince Edward Island Railways records at LAC





Related Post:  All Aboard!

All Aboard!

The railways played a major role in our history, as did the people who worked for them.

I always loved going on the train. Growing up we lived outside the city and once a year at Christmas time my mother would take us kids on the Canadian Pacific Lakeshore  commuter train into Montreal's Windsor Station. From there we would walk up the hill to Ste. Catherine Street to see the magical Christmas window displays in the major department stores. Then of course to visit Santa, ride on the Toyville Train, and do our own shopping at the Red Basket Shop in Eaton's Department Store. In 1957 my parents took us on the Canadian Pacific train from Montreal to Alberta where my Mom's cousin had a ranch. That was quite an adventure for my 7 year old self and my brothers.

One day skipping school, my friend and I walked from the high school to the bus station, hopped on the train and stayed one car ahead of the conductor to the next stop where we got off to walk to her house.

As a young adult working in the city I took the train every morning  for the hour+ ride into the city. Sometimes on the way home I would get off the train at Montreal West and walk to my grandmother's house, a short walk from the station. We would visit for a while then I would get a later train home. The car interiors were certainly not like today.  The seats were plush blue upholstery that were very comfortable, and brass accents throughout the cars. Some people reclined the back of their seat and slept for the duration, others took this time to read the morning papers or catch up on work. If you wanted to socialize the backs of the seats switched sides so two seats could be facing each other. There were washrooms at each end of the cars. At that time I didn't know, nor think about it, but my paternal great grandfather, who I never met, once worked for the company that made those cars.  He worked his way up to yardmaster at Canada Car, which became Canadian Car and Foundry with a merge in 1911. There is a photo of the Canadian Car & Foundry shop taken in 2003 here.

In 1910 my maternal great grandfather worked 56 hours a week as a brass finisher for the Canadian National Railway to earn $557 for the year. His son (my grandfather's brother) Alexander, being a young man of 20, having no family and perhaps not as experienced, worked the same 56 hours as a brass finisher to earn $365 that year. My grandfather started working for the railroad when he came home from the war. He was a master steamfitter for Canadian National Railway. I have a couple of other ancestors who worked for the Grand Trunk Railroad.... and a scandalous 2x great uncle that was engineer foreman for the Grand Rapides & Indiana Railway at Cheboygan, Michigan. 

My husbands maternal grandparents immigrated to Canada from Galicia, Austria, with the promise of free land in Canada's West.  On May 19, 1900 the family of 8 left Hamburg on the steamship Arcadia and arrived at the old Pier 2 in Halifax on June 2nd. From there, with their fellow immigrants, they boarded the waiting train and travelled across the country to Winnipeg, Manitoba.... to a new life.

Immigration Depot at Pier II Halifax

One time when my husband and I were coming back from the east, we stopped on our way home at Craigellachie near Revelstoke, BC where the "Last Spike" was hammered home, completing Canadian Pacific’s trans-continental railway. If you are out that way it is well worth the stop.

If there are no surviving records of employees of the railroads, there are lots of magazines, souvenir albums and pamphlets that could tell the story of your railway employee ancestors, and perhaps mention their name.


Relevant Links:

Grand Trunk Railway employees' annual pic-nic to Campbellford (Ont)  1883

BiAnnual Reports of Railroad Commissioner, names of officers - US

The Canadian Pacific Railway Employee Sketches

Canadian National Magazine

CN Keeping Track

The Delaware and Hudson Railroad Bulletin (several issues 1929-1938)

The Frisco Railroad employees' magazine 1925 (01 & 02)

Illinois Central Railroad employees' magazine 1914-1922

Baltimore and Ohio Railroad employees' magazine (Vol 1-7)

Souvenir Album; Home for the Aged and Disabled Railroad Employees - US 1911

International official souvenir; Brotherhood Railway Carmen of America 1902

Illustrated souvenir, tourist guide and time table of the Hamilton, Grimsby and Beamsville Electric Railway Company - Ontario 1909

Grand Trunk Pacific (directors, info, map, etc) 1911

Grand Trunk Railway System 1896-1907

Grand Trunk Railway general passenger time table - 1880

Train Collection at Library Archives Canada

Train Collection at LAC 2 - (newer link)

Railway Employees (Employees Provident Fund - Canada) - LAC

Chinese workers of the Canadian Pacific Railway - LAC

National Archives UK - Railway workers

Traveller's Guide to the Railways of England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, France and Germany 1843

Railway Times - London (Gazette and News - several volumes)

Disturnell's railway and steamship guide - fares, maps,  hotels, etc - 1854

Chicago Railway Equipment Company ; souvenir album 1893-1908

A souvenir of the "Overland limited train" 1897

Utah Central Railroad jubilee; souvenir program 1870

Cheshire Archives Railways Staff Database - 17 staff registers of 4 railway companies

Railroad Souvenir Books (Trove) - Australia

Nominal Roll of the First Railway section (AIF) - NSW, AU

The Great Eastern Railway Society - UK

Caledonia Railway Association

The Erie Railroad Archives

Illinois Central Railroad Records

List of Shareholders ; Grand Trunk Railroad of Canada 1875

The Railway Purchasing Agent's Directory, containing directions where to purchase every article used in constructing and operating railways, also, a list of railways, with name and address of officials in charge of purchasing departments - US 1900

Summer vacation tours ; 1905 (throughout US to Canada w/prices)

A souvenir, trans-continental excursion of railroad agents (w/names list) US 1870

From Canadian Pacific Railway; Souvenir illustrating the insignia of the Canadian Army, is a simple tribute to the Canadian soldiers - 1918

The Canadian Pacific Railway: Manitoba, the Canadian northwest, testimony of actual settlers 1885

Records of the National General Ticket Agents Association - 1885-1878

US Railroad Employee Retirement Claim Records

British and Irish Fallen Railway Men of the First World War

Central Pacific Railway Company Chinese Employee Payroll, 1865

Listing of Railway Workers in Nova Scotia

Payroll of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad