Mails to Ireland: Difference between revisions

The Irish Mail was the first train to call at the new Chester Station on 1st August 1848, having left London Euston the previous evening at 8-45pm. It reached Chester at 3-43am and Bangor at 5-25am. Until the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Bridge Britannia Bridge] over the Menai Straits was completed the train terminated at Bangor and the mails were taken on by coach over [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menai_Suspension_Bridge Telford’s Suspension Bridge], completed in 1826 to Llanfair PG and thence by rail to Holyhead. It had originally been suggested that the Menai Straits would be crossed using Telford's Menai bridge, with the railway coaches and wagons being hauled across by ropes. The line through to Holyhead was opened on 21st August 1850 and the mails then went all the way by rail. The Irish Mail train was always run to meet the needs of the mail, not the passengers. The contract with the PMG, stipulated that mail was to arrive in Dublin and London at a time which was suitable to deliver it to customers in the morning. It was no coincidence that the Royal Mail sorting office at Chester was relocated to opposite the station from the main 1842 built Post Office in [http://chester.shoutwiki.com/wiki/St_John_Street#The_Post_Office St John Street]. Picture, as an increasing amount of mail was soon being transported by rail. In 1839 an average of 4 letters was received per person per year and by 1890 that figure had risen to 60.