Travelling Post Offices
Travelling post offices existed on three routes:
- The Jaffa–Jerusalem route was officially opened on September 26, 1892 with stops at Jaffa, Ludd, Ramle, Sedshed, Deir Aban, Bittir, and Jerusalem. In 1888, the developer Joseph Navon had received a 71-year license, which he later sold to French investors, who operated the company as Société du Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa à Jerusalem et Prolonguements. The company was nationalized at the start of the war in 1914. Navon's license expressly prohibited the company from transporting mail for the various foreign post offices. Postmarks for this travelling post office, some inscribed Bur. Amb. Jerusalem–Jaffa, are registered by collectors from May 13, 1893 to December 14, 1914.
- The Damascus–Haifa route was completed in 1906 as a branch of the Hejaz Railway with stops at Dera'a, Muzerib, Zeizun, Tel el-Makarim, El-Hadshara, Wadi Kleit, El-Hammi, Semach, Dshisr el-Majami, Beit Shean, Shatta, Afule, Tel esh-Shamam, Esh-Shamaria, and Haifa. Postmarks for this travelling post office, inscribed Damas–Caiffa, are registered by collectors from 1908 to June 2, 1921 (one postmark remained in use during E.E.F. control).
- The Messudshi–Nablus route was completed in 1914. Use of the postmark inscribed Nablous–Caiffa/Ambulant is only known for September 25, 1914.
No TPO postmarks are known for other railway lines operating during this period, irrespective of whether these lines actually did transport mail. Lines operating were (year of completion): Acre–Beled esh-Shech (1912), Afule–Djennine (1913), Djennine–Messudshi (1914), Messudshi–Tulkarem–Ludd (1915), Wadi Sarrar–Et-Tine–Beersheba, Beersheba–Hafir (1915), Et-Tine–Gaza (1916), and Deir el-Balah–Beersheba (1916).
Read more about this topic: List Of Ottoman Post Offices In Palestine
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“You had been travelling for days
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—John Montague (b. 1929)
“To the old saying that man built the house but woman made of it a “home” might be added the modern supplement that woman accepted cooking as a chore but man has made of it a recreation.”
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“In a virtuous government, and more especially in times like these, public offices are, what the should be, burthens to those appointed to them which it would be wrong to decline, though foreseen to bring with them intense labor and great private loss.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)