Parcels and Mail

At least twice a day, a van would arrive at Glastonbury station loaded with mail bags to go on the train, and return with a load of incoming mail. Glastonbury was also a depot for rail parcels; items to large for the postal service were deposited at the station parcels office and consigned to the nearest staion to their destination for collection or road delivery. Parcels and mail together provided a significant amount of traffic through Glastonbury station. Even after the first attempt at closure of the line, mail continued to go by rail until the line was finally closed on 5th March 1966.

The 6.30pm Highbridge train arrives at Glastonbury as dusk falls. Two platform trolleys are piled high with parcels for the train, and a Post Office van waits to load mail sacks. 14.10.65	.	Laden parcel trolleys await the mid-morning train at Glastonbury, though there is no sign yet of the mail van. 5.5.65

On New Year's Day 1966, first day of the reduced 'emergency service' on the S&D, mail sacks are unloaded at Glastonbury from the Post Office van into the 10.20 Highbridge train. 1.1.66	.	...and a closer look at the activity on the platform.

Updated 15-10-01