The handling and delivery of mail has always been a serious business, underpinned by the trust of the public in requiring timeliness, safety, and confidentiality. After early beginnings using horseback and stagecoach, and although cars and trucks later replaced stagecoaches and wagons, the Railway Mail Service still stands as one of America’s most resourceful and exciting postal innovations. This service began in 1832, but grew slowly until the Civil War. Then from 1862, by sorting the mail on board moving trains, the Post Office Department was able to decentralize its operations as railroads began to crisscross the nation on a regular basis, and speed up mail delivery. This service lasted until 1974. During peak decades of service, railway mail clerks handled 93% of all non-local mail and by 1905 the service had over 12,000 employees.

Railway Post Office trains used a system of mail cranes to exchange mail at stations without stopping. As a train approached the crane, a clerk prepared the catcher arm which would then snatch the incoming mailbag in the blink of an eye. The clerk then booted out the outgoing mailbag. Experienced clerks were considered the elite of the Postal Service’s employees, and spoke with pride of making the switch at night with nothing but the curves and feel of the track to warn them of an upcoming catch. They also worked under the greatest pressure and their jobs were considered to be exhausting and dangerous. In addition to regular demands of their jobs they could find themselves the victims of train wrecks and robberies.

As successful as it was, “mail-on-the-fly” still had its share of glitches. If they hoisted the train’s catcher arm too soon, they risked hitting switch targets, telegraph poles or semaphores, which would rip the catcher arm off the train. Too late, and they would miss an exchange.

Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage?

Câu hỏi liên quan

• As mentioned in the text, who are the most active when their team has the ball?

• We can see from the passage that in the countryside of Britain ______.

• We sometimes think of writing as more real than speech because ..............

ZUNIA12

• The topic of the passage is ________.

• In paragraph 2, cities like London, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam are mentioned ............

• What does the word “it” refer to?

• The word "symptoms" is closest in meaning to ___________.

• The main idea of this passage is________.

• What does “they” refer to?

• What does the author say in paragraph 1 regarding most species in Earth’s history?

• Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

• What will happen if a dodder plant starts growing where there are no other plants around?

• Why are there white rings on each end of the football?

• Which of the following would the writer support?

• The word "odd" is closest in meaning to ........

• The word "assigned" in the fourth paragraph mostly means ......

• The word “excluded” is closest meaning to .............

• What is the greatest speed of tsunami traveling across the deep ocean?

• How high is the wave of the tsunami when it reaches the shore?

• According to the text, the most important quality of a teacher is _______.