Galerie

4 THE RAILWAY STATION POST OFFICE

4.1 THE TRANSPORT OF MAILBAGS FROM, TO AND VIA DANZIG
On 17 April 1923 the Polish Post in Danzig opened POLSKI URZĄD POCZTOWY GDAŃSK No 2 (Polish Post Office Gdańsk No 2) at the main
railway station in Danzig. The main railway station in the Free City of Danzig was a stop for several trains connecting Gdynia with other Polish
towns and cities. Travelling Post Offices (TPOs) were joined to designated trains on these routes. The TPOs carried mailbags from Poland for the
Polish Harbour and Main Post Offices in Danzig which were unloaded at the Railway Station Post Office Gdańsk No 2. Mail from Danzig for Poland
was loaded there in turn. Due to political differences, however, between Poland and the Free City authorities about the operation of Polish mail
services in Danzig, the Polish Post Office at the railway station was only permitted to handle sealed mailbags and was not open to the public.
Mail was sorted in the TPOs and special letter-boxes were provided for people to post letters directly onto the train when stopped at a station. Due
again to political difficulties, however, the letter-boxes had to be sealed whilst the train was travelling through the Free City’s territory. As a result
datestamps of these TPOs cannot be found on Port Gdańsk stamps unless these stamps were used in Poland.

15 September 1929. Picture postcard sent from
Gdynia to Brno with a very late use of the TPO
GDAŃSK – WARSZAWA No 5 cds.

5 August 1927. Picture postcard sent to
Kraków with a TPO HEL – TCZEW No 235
cds.