In Beckum & Langley's 1986 book "Central of Georgia Railway Album" (out of print) there is a photo toward the back of a mail bus (No.204)operated by CofG. The caption indicates that there were eight of these mail busses in service. Does anyone have any information regarding their year of manufacture and years of use? Who were they built by? The photo looks as though they were painted in the blue and gray scheme. I wonder if any other southeastern railroads operated mail busses like these, or were they unique to the Central?

-- Stephen S. Syfrett (ssyfrett@mindspring.com), June 25, 2001

Answers

I don't know much about the years or name of manufacture of the mail buses but it was blue and white. My dad drove trucks and the buses for Central of Georgia Motor Transport and that is where I began my railroad career. I am in the process of obtaining a couple of the original signs from the Motor Transport equipment. Dad drove for motor transport from about 1954 until his death in 1979. I have some pictures of their equipment.

-- Joey Holland (havilah4@aol.com), January 15, 2003.

Stephen,

The mail bus service were referred to as Highway Post Office (or HPO). There is very little documentation about this service. However, the index that we've created of the files at Savannah do show some files regarding Highway Post Office. The earliest file date is 1951 and the latest is 1967. Routes specifically mentioned in the file titles are: Albany to Panama City; Atlanta to Macon; Cordele to Albany; Savannah to Macon; Athens to Macon; and Atlanta to Albany. Future research in these files may reveal more details.

Also, there is a full side photo of a HPO bus in the Images of America Central of Georgia book on page 76.

Allen Tuten

-- Allen Tuten (allen@cofg.org), June 25, 2001.