The first automobile of the postal service - a French Berliet with the registretion number K 425. The name of the most representatively uniformed driver was Carl Jensen. The car had no windscreen so you had to be properly dressed for the hardships of the weather. 

Already in 1903, a private haulier on the island of Lolland sensed the tendencies of the development and procured a vehicle of Maurer Union brand for the first omnibus route in the country - from Nykoebing Falster to Nysted. The route was, however, soon discontinued due to bad economy, but the year after bigger plans for a nationwide network of buses were devised. The postal service was invited to cooperate about combining the conveyance of passengers with mail and parcel transport, and the following year the postal service jumped on the bandwagon so to speak, but only on one route from Noerrebro to Slangerup and with the unwritten purpose of investigating the reliability.

Apparently, it turned out to be acceptable. During the subsequent years mail transport was set up on other bus routes around the country. The population could find information about this in the daily newspapers or in the Motor magazine which currently announced the establishment of new mail-carrying routes. 

The first mail-carrying automobile in Denmark - the bus between Nykoebing Falster and Nysted in 1904 

The Postal Service Motorizes

It was actually due to indirect pressure from the Danish State Railways and the steamship company Oeresund that part of the mail transport in Copenhagen was motorized in 1908, because both companies had put on vans to convey travellers and luggage between the Central Station, the steam-ferry berths in the free port, and the place of call of the mail ships in Havnegade. The departure times of the vans were attuned to the timetables of the ships and trains and if the mail was to have a chance to catch the connections, the postal service had to give up the now far too slow horse-drawn carriages. 

In connection with the international stamp exhibition Hafnia 87 a stamp was issued featuring the first automobile of the postal service on its way across the Gammeltorv at a leisurely pace in 1908. Note the unremitting attention of the spectators. The stamp was designed by Mads Stage (1922-2004). 

The First Mail Vans

In August 1908, the postal service therefore rented a French automobile of Berliet brand with a petrol engine, and the performances of the vehicle must have proved satisfactory because the van was purchased on 1st April 1909. Later the same year, the postal service purchased two more vans of which at least one was also a Berliet.

Information about the reliability of the first three vans is available. The official statistics of the fiscal year 1910-11 tell us that the in the course of the year the three cars covered a distance of totally 63,349 km, but also that they were out of service for altogether 186 days due to repairs! Moreover, in 129 cases tyres or inner tubes had to be changed on the way with mail. Elsewhere it is mentioned that "during the years 1910-11 it happened only five times that a mail round had to be cancelled due to errors in the function of the automobiles."

In 1911, when the postal service decided to extend its fleet of vehicles by further 11 vans, it is therefore quite comprehensible that battery-powered vans were procured and that the eight vans with the largest payload had solid tyres on all four wheels whilst the remaining three had pneumatic tyres on the front wheels and solid tyres on the rear wheels. The period with battery-driven vans lasted until 1928. Then vans with petrol engines returned with a vengeance. 

The first three mail vans in 1909.
From left a Berliet 1908, a Berliet 1909 and - presumably - a Renault 1909.

 

The Rest is History

Since then, the development has continued in rapid succession. In the late 1920's, mail transport by van really got going, mainly by vans of Ford manufacture. After the Second World War, Chevrolet was prevalent in the late 1940's, and during the 1950's Bedford appeared on the scene with regard to both vans and lorries. Lorries took over more and more mail transport concurrently with the abolition of unprofitable railway lines.

The major motorization of rural post routes from1960 onwards with Morris 1000, Renault 4, Danbilen, Opel Kadett, Ford Escort and latest Peugeot Partner as the predominant brands is well known. The story about Renault 4 was published in MuseumsPosten no. 3/1996. As for lorries, Volvo appeared on the scene at the end of the 1970's and was extensively used for long distance mail transport after the opening of the Great Belt Connection in 1997. At the same time the manned mail trains disappeared and only container transport of mail by train continued until even this was abandoned in 2006.

Today, Post Denmark Ltd. carries out all mail transport by vans, which means that the van stands alone as the final victor in the "battle of the mail".

The museum celebrates the 100-year jubilee by showing a selection of the many preserved, fine photos of vehicles used by the Post Office through the years. They are on display in the café on the 5th floor during the period 17th June to 19th October 2008.

The 100-year jubilee of the mail vans will also be commemorated by the publication of a book. Postal worker Nils Bloch has written a voluminous book with photographs, anecdotes, and postmen's memories of the change from Shank's mare and bicycles to automobiles. The book "Postautomobilet gennem 100 år" ["The Mail Automobile through 100 Years" - only available in Danish] is expected to be ready for sale in the museum shop from mid June 2008. The book will hold 320 pages and contain more than 900 photographs. Price DKK 348 + p&p DKK 60. The book will be mentioned in more details on the museum's homepage when available.