The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-01-30 00:00:00

Jan. 30, 1849.

TUB FLYING POST-OFFICE ON THE NORTH-
WESTERN RAILWAY.

ui(Prom the Quarterly Review.)
dohtl°llice, which every evening flies away from Lon-
bus.] Glasgow, and wherein government clerks are
ter:: employed in receiving, delivering, and sorting let-
feet .11 the way, is a narrow carpeted room, twenty-one
f in length, and about seven in breadth, lighted by
thaonuinrrtdh large reflecting lamps inserted in the roof, and by s
()nth:
length
for the guard. Along about two-
cloth
owe wall of this chamber there is affixed to the
a narrow table or counter, covered with green
and beneath which various letter bags are stowed away,
abelauore which the space to the roof is divided into six
.Its, 14 feet in length, each containing 35 pigeon-holes
bout the size of the little compartments in a dove
At this table, and immediately fronting those
Vogser-beles, there were standing as we flew along three
the ,;rellice clerks intently occupied in snatching up from
the ;' cloth counter, and in dexterously inserting into
fore ri,,°119 Pigeon-holes, a mash of letters which lay be-
repitteein), and which, when exhausted, were instantly
Which tkinno bags which the senior clerk cut open, and
assott„'",e guard who had presented them shook out for
big ea—ent On the right of the chief clerk, the remain-
with lest ethird of the carriage was filled nearly to the roof
berii erbags of all sorts and sizes, and which an able-
j Pst-office guard, dressed in his shirt sleeves and their rtvaistcoat, was hauling at and adjusting according to
tion the brass labels. At this laborious occupa-
a.haif.e clerks continue standing for about four hours and
Lon-
don toi lthat is to say, the first set sort letters from Lon-
the third arnworth, the second from Tamworth to Preston,
frornfrom Preston to Carlisle, and the fourth letters
duty dorlisle to Glasgow. The clerks employed in this
tion, °not Permanently reside at any of the above sta-
toetvrdiery
ritn;lt are usually removed from one to the. othern
in t;elnree months. As we sat reclining and.trwumasin
mrcry nee, the scene was as interesting as extra-
were t• ' in consequence of the rapid rate. at which w
g, the bags which were hanging from the
ittneert,itY7ibit—s2 Pegs on the sides of the office had a tremulous
raorae-, which at every jerk of the train was changed for a
ar two into a slight rolling or pendulous mov.e-
the. ke towels, &e., han ing in a cabin at sea. While
-....fr'enard's face, besies glisteningg with perspiration, was
kite:l:he labour of stooins and auling at the large
before red as his scarlet coat which was hanbai
peaced‘ne.wall on a little peg, until at last his cheeks. p
above the they were shining at the lamp immediately
them almost as ruddily as the lamp shone upon
deateiitn hand. ,Lne three clerks were actively moving their right
w tb
all directions, directi working vertically with the same
ZentallY restoreprinting their type into the various small compart-
was .'s! which each letter belongs. Sometimes a clerk
zsourvi,,n to throw into various pigeon-holes a batf:l? of
Ad e;;,,4 letters, all directed in the same handwriting,
I:Cgiste;".eantlY announcing some death ; then one or two
urtie another.'" ltters wrapped in green covers. For somet
bagsr clerk was solely employed in stuffing iv
the g
out
for various destinations. Occaponall,
"catitia,-; ' ;caving his bags, was seen to poke. his burly
files% oenj;,?` a larse window' behind him into p.itch
sparksdar-
om tb,..;•ened by the occasional passage of bright
"ahin ;.unnel pipe of the engine, to ascertain by the
tient 0113; the lamps as he passed them the. precise itno-t
nightioe train clearing certain stations, in order . that
01.0 record it in his " time-bill." Then again, a
bas Tnell of burning sealing wax announced that he
"ags, three up and stamping with the Post-office seal
for ti -tee or four of which he firmly strapped together,
eeiredvejY• All of a sudden, the flying chamber re-
nno sh" suarP blow, which resounded exactly as if a can-
tout ot had struck it. This noise, however, merely an-
it:ed that a station-post we were at that moment pass-
safely which was already far behind us, had just been
tint h delivered of four leather bags, which, on putting
far etleriall out of the window, we saw quietly lying in the
si cradle- of,_a large strong iron-bound sort of landing-net or
which the guard a few minutes before had by a
But a-,,,llurrernent lowered on purpose to receive them.
Tao no
had we received four bags, but at the same
llewrakerit' and apparently by the same blow, we had, a. s we
Pest
-o dropped at the same station three bags which a
The-b°,ffice authority had been waiting there to receive.
rate , lew that the pendant bags of letters, moving at the
llyinlllatelaecief 40 miles an hour, receives in being suddenly
tnvay, must be rather greater than that which the
ea throne receives on being suddenly at that rate dropped
projert.road. Both operations, however, are effected by a
Sltdd in aaratu from the flying ost-office c
enly g itt
pp
Contacts with that protrudinPg from the postomin,..