#3501
Post Office sorting van
🇬🇧 United Kingdom ·built by BR Wolverton & York· from 1959· Postal railcar in the United Kingdom
1 photo from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. NSA 80390 'Ernie Gosling' at Doncaster Works: The original uploader was Our Phellap at English Wikipedia .· CC BY-SA 3.0
what is it?
A Post Office sorting van is a type of rail vehicle built for use in a Travelling Post Office. British Rail built ninety-six of these vehicles between 1959 and 1977, to several similar designs, all based on the Mark 1 coach design. They were numbered in the range 80300–80395.
who runs it
base stats
Bars compare against all trains: 600 km/h (maglev), 1,700 seats; power, weight and number built on a log scale up to 20 MW, 1,000 t and 20,000 built.
fun facts
- First built 67 years ago, in 1959.
- 19.5 m long: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Served for 45 years (1959–2004).
multiple unit: A self-propelled train: motors are spread under the passenger cars, so no separate locomotive.
spec sheet
- built
- 1959
- in service from
- 1959
- retired
- 2004
- status
- retired
- number built
- 81
- kind
- multiple unit
- origin
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- builders
- BR Wolverton & York
- operators
- British Rail
- top speed
- —
- power
- —
- gauge
- 1,435 mm standard gauge
- length
- 19.5 m
From the Wikipedia infobox and Wikidata. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q7233692, Wikipedia: Post Office sorting van (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-25.