cry from the knowledge that was necessary before when mobile unit distribution clerks were expected to know the routing for several thousand post offices in their assignment. There was no place in the new set-up for an RPO service. This development gave the railroads, knowing they were going to lose the mail revenue, an excuse to get out of the unprofitable passenger train business, something that they had wanted to do for years. After that, when a train was discontinued, instead of moving the RPO car on to another set of trains still operating, the RPO service was also discontinued. Within about four years there was only one round trip of RPO service left on practically all the trunk lines, and their value was minimal. It came as no surprise to the railroads or to the remaining RPO clerks when, on April 21, 1968, Assistant Postmaster General Hartigan issued a news release concerning RPO service. It stated that RPO cars on 162 passenger trains in the nation would be phased out of service by the end of the year, affecting 2,224 postal workers. The RPO clerks who were furloughed had a choice: they were placed in post offices at or near their homes, or they retired. If a clerk found no assignment in his grade at the post office assigned, he could keep his higher grade for two years, after which he had to take a reduction. With one exception, the phasing out was a success. The New York, New York & Washington, DC RPO, which covered the highest populated corridor in the nation, continued to operate until July 1, 1977. On a part of this same line, between Philadelphia and Washington, the first recorded "route agent" had been assigned to accompany the mail, 140 years earlier. The USPS continued to use regular scheduled Amtrak passenger trains to haul the mail on this line. On October 30, 1984, a "mail-only" train service was inaugurated between Washington, D.C., and Springfield/Boston, MA with a timetable tailored specifically to meet the postal service requirements. The northbound train was named "The Fast Mail" (train #12, later #190) departing Washington daily at 3 AM and the southbound "The Mail Express" (#13). Eventually, all mail transportation on Amtrak was discontinued by 2005 under the administration of David L. Gunn. References Wilking, Clarence. (1985) The Railway Mail Service, Railway Mail Service Library External links Clarence Wilking, "The