Railway Express Agency

Railway Express Agency logo

The Railway Express Agency (REA) was a national monopoly set up by the United States federal government in 1917. Rail express services provided small package and parcel transportation using the extant railroad infrastructure much as UPS functions today using the road system. The United States government was concerned about the rapid, safe movement of parcels, money, and goods during World War I and REA was its solution to this problem. REA ceased operations in 1975, when its business model ceased to be viable.

Railway Express Agency luggage tag from New York City to Narrowsburg for the Queens Boy Scout camp, Camp Man

Early history

The first parcel express agency in the United States is generally considered to have been started by William Frederick Harnden (1812-1845), who in 1839 began regular trips between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts, as a courier transporting small parcels, currency and other valuables. William G. Fargo, a New York Central freight clerk at Auburn, New York, and Henry Wells, a leather worker at Batavia, New York, organized Wells Fargo & Co. in 1853. Other parcel express pioneers include Henry B. Plant, who formed Southern Express Company; Alvin Adams, who founded Adams Express Company; and John Warren Butterfield. Express delivery in the early 19th century was almost all by horse, whether by stagecoach or riders.

Ad for a railroad, showing American Railway Express service along the line. 1922

The express business flourished in the latter half of the 19th century, and by 1900 there were four principal parcel express companies, all of which included the rapidly advancing railways as one of their means of transport: Adams Express Company, Southern Express Company, American Express Company, and Wells Fargo. In 1913, the U.S. Post Office introduced its Parcel Post service, which offered major competition for the express companies. Still, private railway express business increased steadily through the end of World War I.

During World War I, the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) took over the nation's railroads. Under the USRA, the four major and three minor express companies were consolidated as American Railway Express, Inc., except for the portion of Southern Express that operated over the Southern Railway and the Mobile & Ohio.[1]

Railway Express Agency office, San Augustine, Texas, 1939
REA electric truck circa 1920.

In March 1929, the assets and operations of American Railway Express Inc. were transferred to Railway Express Agency (REA). REA was owned by 86 railroads in proportion to the express traffic on their lines; no one railroad or group of railroads controlled the agency. In response to customer demand, REA added a Chicago, Illinois-based refrigerator car line. In 1927, REA began an Air Express Division.[2] In 1938, the remainder of Southern Express also joined the consolidated REA.

Post-World War II

Due to rate increases, express operations remained profitable into the 1950s. REA concentrated on express refrigerator service after 1940, and continued to expand its fleet of express reefers until the mid- to late-1950s, business declined dramatically thanks to competition from refrigerated motor trucks. By this time, overall rail express volume had also decreased substantially.

REA baggage car detail.
Railway Express Agency worker, WWII safety poster

In 1959, REA negotiated a new contract allowing it to use any mode of transportation. It also acquired rights to allow continued service by truck freight after passenger trains were discontinued. REA also attempted to enter the piggyback and container operations business, without success. Another blow came when the Civil Aeronautics Board terminated REA's exclusive agreement with the airlines for air express.

REA Express and decline

In the early 1960s Railway Express Agency was renamed REA Express.[3] By 1965 many of REA's refrigerator cars, now stripped of their refrigeration equipment, were in lease service as bulk mail carriers. Many ended their days relegated to work train service.

In 1969, after several years of losses, REA was sold to five of its corporate officers. By then its entire business constituted less than ten percent of all intercity parcel traffic, while only ten percent of its business moved by rail.

REA Express became embroiled in extensive litigation with the railroads and the United Parcel Service as well as with the Brotherhood of Railway Workers' Union. In November 1975, REA Express terminated operations and filed for bankruptcy. As a result, the first Altair 8800 microcomputer was lost, as it had been shipped a few weeks earlier via REA and never arrived.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Technology, Invention, and Innovation collections
  2. ↑ p.589 The World Almanac and Book of Facts Abe Books
  3. ↑ Winter 1962-1963 Central of Georgia Railway timetable states "Railway Express Agency has a new name R E A Express."
  4. ↑ Les Solomon, "Solomon's Memory", Digital Deli, 1984
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