Named Trains: #29 – Fast Mail

#29 – Fast Mail

Railroad(s): Chicago & North Western; Great Northern; Milwaukee Road; 

Michigan Central; New York Central

Operated: various

Route(s): Cedar Rapids – Chicago; Seattle – Minneapolis; Chicago – Minneapolis; 

New York – Chicago; Chicago – Toledo; New York – Detroit

Generally, this list will chronicle named trains assigned to moving people. Except for this one. The allure of a named train assigned to move goods was too hard to resist. Moreover, the Community Transportation Association of America – which publishes RAIL Magazine – thinks enough of the Fast Mail moniker to use it as the title for its electronic newsletters that we couldn't help but include it. And, besides, express mail often was treated with the same regard as passengers during the height of the rail industry's national prominence. Five different railroads operated Fast Mail trains delivering express mail between terminals at great speed and reliability. Fast Mail runs were known to nearly always make their scheduled times due to the importance of their largest customer: the United States Postal Service. All of them traveled through the Midwest, with all but one serving Chicago, and some trains occasionally carried passengers. While Amtrak does still carry express mail and package shipments, it has never devoted stand-alone trains to express mail service and is even less likely to these days, with printed mail traffic dropping every year due to electronic communications.