This hammer-shaped device, a recent addition to the BCM&CC artifact collection, sits at the junction of two popular subjects of historical interest: railways and postal services. It was used by the Harrisburg & Southampton Railway Post Office, which operated along the Grand Trunk Railway between Harrisburg and Southampton, via Galt, Guelph, and Palmerston.
RPO (Railway Post Office)
A railway car equipped for handling and sorting mail, staffed by specially trained postal clerks. RPOs were often hitched to passenger trains, and travelled from town to town along regular, specified routes; An RPO may also be referred to as MC (Mail Car) or PC (Postal Car) in earlier sources.
The Hammer
Hammers like this would have been used to stamp envelopes, postcards, and parcels with a postmark. Postmarks contain information about the date, time, and location at which an item was mailed. When applied directly onto a postage stamp, this mark may also be called a “cancel” or “cancellation”, as it defaces the stamp and prevents it from being used again.
The permanent lettering on the face of this hammer reads “HARRISBURG & SOUTHAMPTON M.C.”, encircling the changeable type in the center, which reads “T1S / MR25 / 07”. All of the text is enclosed within an unbroken, circular border. According to data amalgamated from various collectors and historians, hammers bearing this postmark were in use from 1897 to 1917 (Ludlow, Catalogue of Canadian Railway Cancellations, 1982).
“Officially,” these hammers were supposed to be destroyed once no longer in use, to prevent unauthorized or fraudulent use of postmarks. In reality, however, some hammers were spared this dismal fate and enjoy a pampered retirement in the care of collectors and museums. The family who donated this artifact kept it safe and sound for nearly 120 years.
What can this particular postmark tell us? Each part relays a different piece of information
HARRISBURG & SOUTHAMPTON M.C.
The permanent type around the outer portion indicates the route on which the railway post office operated, on trains travelling between Harrisburg and Southampton. The “M.C.” here stands for Mail Car, which was used in some earlier postmarks before “R.P.O.” gained prevalance.
T1S / MR25 / 07
The changeable type is where information about the date, time, train number, and direction may have been included. This information would have been updated daily or even multiple times per day, depending on the number of runs completed by the RPO.
The bottom two lines on this stamp specify a date of March 25, 1907 – possibly the last day the hammer was used. The type above the date is sometimes referred to as the “indicia” on RPO stamps. In this example, it indicates the train number (T1) and direction (South).
The Railway Mail Service
In 1854, the first specialized mail cars began hitching a ride on trains along Canadian railways, on which postal clerks would sort the mail en-route. In 1897, the Railway Mail Service was officially established as a distinct branch of Canada’s Post Office Department.
Many Railway Post Office routes were coordinated across Bruce County and the surrounding areas. Some RPOs that operated in this region, during various periods between the late-19th to mid-20th centuries, included: London-Kincardine; Palmerston-Kincardine; Stratford-Wiarton; London-Wiarton; Guelph-Palmertson-Wiarton; Toronto-Palmerston-Wiarton; Hamilton-Southampton; Toronto-Southampton; and London-Southhampton.
The following envelopes and postcards from the BCM&CC Archives showcase postmarks and backstamps from various RPOs in Bruce County and the surrounding areas, including:
- Harrisburg & Southampton M.C./Harrisburg & Southampton R.P.O.
- Stratford & Wiarton M.C./Stratford & Wiarton R.P.O.
- London & Kincardine R.P.O.
- London & Owen Sound R.P.O.
- Galt & Elmira R.P.O.
- Bridgeburg & Goderich RPO.
- Toronto, St. Mary’s & London R.P.O.
The Railways
Most of the railroads in Bruce County, on which these RPOs ran, were built during the 1860s-1870s. The first line of the Wellington Grey & Bruce Railway (WG&BR), spanning over 160 km from Guelph to Southampton, was completed by the end of 1872. Another subdivision running from Palmerston to Kincardine was completed the following year, in 1873. The WG&BR was initially operated by Great Western Railway, which also operated a network of other railroads in Southwestern Ontario, connecting major hubs such as Windsor, London, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Toronto, and many other towns and cities.
In 1882, Great Western merged with Grand Trunk Railway (GTR). By 1893, Grand Trunk amalgamated all of their branches, and WG&BR was subsumed under the greater umbrella of GTR system. Nearby railways incorporated under GTR included the Stratford & Huron Railway, which spanned from Stratford to Wiarton and Owen Sound. After GTR’s bankruptcy, these lines were taken over by Canadian National Railway in 1923.
The Railway Mail Clerks
Those employed as railway mail clerks were generally well-esteemed, and high-performing individuals. They were specially trained and expected to adhere to fastidious procedural guidelines. Before commencing their duties, prospective railway mail clerks had to: pass the Civil Service Examination; take an oath before a Justice of the Peace; present two character references, a medical certificate, and statement from their former employer. Furthermore, if a clerk did not obtain a score of least 90% on his annual Case Examination, he would not receive a salary increase – and may even have his salary reduced.
One such well-respected clerk on the Harrisburg-Southampton RPO route was James Dundas, who retired only months before the date on this hammer. He started on November 25, 1872, and was promoted to 1st class railway mail clerk by 1896. Upon his retirement in 1906, the Port Elgin Times reported:
“[James] Dundas of Southampton, the popular mail clerk, has given the road after 34 years of faithful service […] He is as good-hearted an official as ever gave service to the public, and we trust that he may enjoy the long retirement that has been conferred upon him.”
It wasn’t all well-wishes and high test scores, however. The work of a railway mail clerk could be dangerous at times. On June 4, 1908, The Bruce Times reported on the injuries sustained by passengers and crew in a midnight train collision:
“In the mail car, Mail Clerk Kearns was caught and held fast for a moment, while flying parcels and boxes in the express car inflicted the injuries that Express Messenger Dockrill received.”
While there were no fatalities in this collision, many railway mail clerks lost their lives in tragic accidents over the years, alongside passengers and other crew members.
The End of the Line...
At it’s peak in the early 1950s, the Railway Mail Service oversaw 177 railway post offices operating on trains across Canada, staffed by 1,368 railway mail clerks. A decade later, however, these numbers were less than half, and the Railway Mail Service ceased operations in Canada in 1971.
By the 1990s, many of the original rail lines in Bruce County had been decommissioned, and have since been repurposed as public trails, namely: the Saugeen Rail Trail, which runs from Port Elgin to Southampton; and the Bruce County Rail Trail, which runs from Tiverton to Port Elgin, through Paisley, Walkerton and Mildmay, and all the way to the boundary of Huron County.
Sources:
- Adie, Douglas K. The Mail Monopoly: Analysing Canadian Postal Service. The Fraser Institute, 1990: The Mail Monopoly: Analysng Canadian Postal Service
- B.N.A.P.S.Railway Post Office Study Group. “RPO Glossary”. Accessed April, 2026: RPO glossary
- Controller of Railway Mail Service. Instructions to Railway Mail Clerks. Ottawa, 1913: POD-RMC-Instructions_PostOfficeDept_rx.pdf
- Cromwell, Richard, and Brian Stalker. Canadian Railway Post Office Database. BNAPS Railway Post Office Study Group, 2022: RPO references
- Department of the Secretary of State. The Civil Service List of Canada, 1899. From Ancestry.com, Canadian Civil Servants Lists, 1872-1900 [database on-line].
- Gray, Ross. Editor. The Newsletter of the Canadian R.P.O. Study Group (BNAPS) 34, no. 5 (May-June, 2006): rpo-2006-05-v034n05-w184.pdf
- Gray, Ross. Editor. The Newsletter of the Canadian R.P.O. Study Group (BNAPS) 34, no. 6 (July-August, 2006): rpo-2006-07-v034n06-w185.pdf
- Ludlow, Lewis M. Catalogue of Canadian Railway Cancellations and Related Transportation Postmarks, 1982.
- “New Railway and Postal Map of the Province of Ontario,” 1875. Library and Archives Canada: https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=3698125&lang=eng&ecopy=e008222480_a2-v8
- Post Office Department of Canada. “Department Order No. 38” [Establishment of the Railway Mail Service Branch]. February 22, 1897. Library and Archives Canada, Canadian Post Office Publications: https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=canposoffpub&id=503&lang=eng&ecopy=90008G4H
Bruce County Historical Newspapers:
Gallery Images:
- Grand Trunk Railway station in Wiarton: A2015.016.070 – Photograph | Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
- Train at Southampton Train Station, 1923: A958.1008.001 – Print, Photographic | Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
- Grand Trunk Terminal at Wiarton, 1895: A2022.051.886 – Photograph | Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
- G.T.R. Station, Southampton, 1907: A996.016.002 (159) – G.T.R. Station, Southampton | Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
- The new G.T.R. Station, Walkerton: A2015.111.008 – Image, Digital | Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
- Kincardine Train Station: A2022.051.886 – Photograph | Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
- Grand Trunk Railway station in Wiarton: A2015.016.008 – Photograph | Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
- C.N.R. Station, Tara: A2014.008.1101 – Postcard, Picture | Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre
