The first special postal train was operated by the Great Western Railway between London and Bristol . The inaugural train ran on 1 February 1855 , leaving Paddington station at 20:46 , and arriving at Bristol at 00:30 . In 1866 , apparatus for picking up and setting down mailbags without stopping was installed at Slough and Maidenhead . This had first been patented in 1838 by Nathaniel Worsdell , first Deputy Mayor of Crewe , and carriage and wagon superintendent at Crewe Works . In 1963 ( the year of the Great Train Robbery ) there were 49 mail trains , with one to five TPOs attached to passenger trains , and complete TPO trains between London and Aberdeen and Penzance
Great Train Robbery
Great Train Robbery (1963)
Travelling Post Office