travelling post office

noun

A type of railway coach designed for the carriage and sorting of mail en route.

Meanings

nountravelling post office (plural travelling post offices)

plural travelling post offices

  1. UKrail transportA type of railway coach designed for the carriage and sorting of mail en route.

    From its pre-Second World War boom of 130 Travelling Post Offices (TPOs) that sorted mail on the move, Royal Mail has slowly (but progressively) shifted its mail operations to other modes of transport.

    2024 July 24, Richard Wilcock, “Royal Mail's switch to road a body blow for rail freight sector”, in RAIL, number 1014, page 26
    1 more example

    One of the important railway facilities which disappeared on the outbreak of war was the travelling post office. […] T.P.Os. have now been resumed, with the reinstatement on October 1 of those between Euston and Aberdeen, and between Paddington and Penzanze.

    1945 November and December, “Return of the T.P.O.”, in Railway Magazine, pages 311–312

    Synonyms: TPO, mail car

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA type of railway coach designed for the carriage and sorting of mail en route.

Also see
Cite this entry
APA

travelling post office. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/travelling%20post%20office

MLA

“travelling post office.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/travelling%20post%20office. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “travelling post office,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/travelling%20post%20office.

Source: travelling post office on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.