Before the railways reached Brandon, mail was moved in that region by stage coach services contracted by the post office department. For a few months after the CPR reached Brandon in 1881, mail could be moved by baggage car services on the train. However, in early 1882, the year Brandon became a city, the post office began operating "railway post office" cars (RPO).
RPO cars were staffed by post office clerks who processed the mail and streamlined the movement of the mails enormously. In due course, several railway lines reached Brandon and most of them also carried RPO cars, each with their own distinctive hammers. Clarence Hopkin, who still resides in Brandon, served as a post office clerk at the main post office and also on several RPO runs to/from Brandon. His work took him on branch lines of both the CPR and the CNR. Clarence's recollections have been very useful to RPO collectors and have been published in the newsletters of the British North America Philatelic Society RPO Study Group.
Examples of RPO postmarks (the numbers at the bottom of each show the hammer number)
 | Canadian Pacific Railway Main Line - RPO from 1881 to 1965: C.P.Rwy WEST OF WINNIPEG hammer shows date of Sept. 25, 1882 (not long after Brandon became a city) and that the train was heading eastward. | CPR Station-1 |
 | Northern Pacific Railway - RPO Winnipeg-Morris-Brandon: NOR. PAC. Ry M.C. W'PEG & BRANDON shows date June 30, 1892, headed eastward - M.C. stands for "mail car" | NPR Station |
 | Canadian Northern Railway - RPO Winnipeg-Carman-Brandon: C.N.R. W'PEG & BRANDON shows date August 26, 1902, direction eastward | CNoR Station |
 | Canadian National Railway - Winnipeg-Brandon: WPG. & BRANDON shows date Nov. 29, 1939, on Train # 5 | CNR Station |
 | Canadian Pacific Souris Section - Brandon-Souris-Estevan: SOURIS C.P.R. SECTION M.C. shows date Nov. 6, 1895, direction eastward (toward Brandon) | CPR Station-2 |
CPR and CNR branch lines - several RPOs used over many years, to/from Brandon
Great Northern Railway - no RPO but had 30 year contract to carry mail between Brandon and St. John, ND. (This railway line was known as the Brandon, Saskatchewan and Hudson's Bay Railway) (GNR station).
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If you have questions or comments, please send them to the author, Bob Lane. My thanks to the British North America Philatelic Society for providing the web space on their exhibits pages.
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