No, I doubt it.
There was certainly a legend on the side requiring an extra fee. However there is no point in doing that today. Firstly the train stops in dedicated terminals with no public access, not in stations. Secondly, mail was sorted on board the TPOs so any collected from the post box in the side could be directed into the correct bag for onward delivery. No such sorting takes place today.
By the late 80s the surcharge had gone - other than the fact it was 1st class (post!) only. 17p in those days!
Isn’t it because it has had to wait for the new rail-connected depot at Daventry/DIRFT? I thought That I had seen somewhere that this service was intended for parcels rather than letters. This is in most respects a ‘new’ rather than ‘traditional’ pattern of movement.
I was referring more to just volumes & flows in general & making more use of rail again.
Parcels are the bigger part of Royal Mail's profit as letters are declining rapidly year on year especially social letters, it makes sense to open up new parcel hubs to deal with the expected increase in volume, Sunday working will be part of a normal shift pattern, at the moment it is voluntary overtime I believe.
I once posted a letter at Preston station on the Whitehaven-Huddersfield TPO departing at 23:15. It was delivered the next morning in Cleckheaton at 06:45. My addressee still has the envelope. The price of the stamp: 4.5p!
Is Dallam rail terminal going to get busier with this work ? There's so much potential for rail parcel traffic across the rail network, Chester delivery office is a 5min walk from the railway station via a dedicated path for example.
Prior to the introduction of first and second class post (previously just 'post') in 1968 I am fairly sure the surcharge was 1d (old penny). As noted, later it had to bear first class postage.
Railfreight in general (not just mail/parcels) is currently enjoying a 'once in a generation' opportunity for model shift...
Without going into “speculative ideas” territory - as a general principle it does seem strange the amount of stock currently being cut up. The level of modification required to for example, remove some chairs and internals to accommodate and secure some roll cages of parcels (how many diesel truck miles could a single additional Wembley / Midlands / Northwest / Scotland 4 car train per night displace) does not feel like it should be beyond the wit of some “kickstarter” funding from somewhere.
I mean, I think unless someone here knows something we don't yet about the ROG Orion project then I suspect the reality is that we are rather struggling to achieve that aspiration.
The main problem is that somebody has to have probably half a dozen trucks' worth of items going between the same pair of places at the same time. The train may be cheaper per parcel but only if it's well-filled. With the fragmentation of the market between Royal Mail, Parcelforce and umpteen private couriers it's difficult to get that sort of scale. In principle a third party could run an A to B journey at their own risk and sell space on it to a range of parcel companies, somewhat as some container trains operate, but the origin and destination would have to fit into all their logistics networks without adding unnecessary cost or delay. Other issues are about network capacity and the impact of overnight engineering access.
