Story: Mail and couriers

Mail by rail

Mail by rail

These mailbags have been unloaded at the railway station at Cass in Canterbury and are being transferred onto waiting coaches, around 1880. By the late 19th century the railway was reaching many parts of the North and South islands, and carried a large amount of the mail. However, foot, horseback and coach deliveries were also used to reach smaller settlements.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Post & Telegraph Collection
Reference: 1/4-019618; F

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Tim Shoebridge, 'Mail and couriers - Mail in the steam era, 1850s–1890s', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/23048/mail-by-rail (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Tim Shoebridge, published 11 Mar 2010