Dan Richards – Riding the overnight mail trains

Writer and broadcaster Dan Richards has a fascination with the night. Inspired by his grandfather, Robert Daniel Butler who worked on the Travelling Post Office (TPO) train between Bristol and Plymouth his love of these unique and vital sorting offices was born. A meticulously planned and timed operation, the TPOs would collect, sort and drop mail while travelling at speed across the country. Although trains like these ceased decades ago, letters and parcels are still carried around the country on the rails. Combing his love of the nocturnal world and these trains Dan describes a journey he made from Gateshead to London in the cab of an overnight Royal Mail train.