In Pictures: Historic delivery

The end of an era in the way post is delivered has been reached after the Cardiff to Glasgow mail train made its final journey on Friday.

The decision to end the service has been blamed on problems with the rail networks which are causing unacceptable delays for the sorting trains.

It is the first train of the Travelling Post Office's (TPO) fleet of 18 to be taken out of service under new cost cutting proposals.

The TPOs have been travelling along the tracks for nearly 165 years but from next January all the post will be transported by road and air.

The mail train service will end in January 2004

Mike Davies, from Pontypridd, south Wales worked on the mail train for 24 years.

"This is a very sad day for me personally," he said.

"It's the end of an era and the end of a tradition.

"I have sorted through millions of letters during my time on the trains and have really enjoyed it.

"A typical day for me would be to start work at about 1925 BST and do the preparations before setting off.

"Then we would sort through the mail until we reached Cheltenham and get some more mail to sort.

"Then it is on to Birmingham where we have a mega amount of mail and other workers join us.

"We then head on up to Stoke where the Cardiff team get off and catch the train home sorting through the mail for Wales and finish our shift at about 0325 BST."

Mike Davies is sad that the service is ending

Mr Davies said he was going to miss his job on the trains.

"It has been such an interesting job because we are always trying to race the clock to get the mail sorted before we get to the station it has to get off at," he said.

"I'm really sad about it. I am going to be based in the Cardiff mail room from now on," he added.

Steve Griffiths, head of the TPO network, said that problems with delayed trains had forced the decision.

"If the mail is two or three hours late then we can't deliver that post that day.

"We have also found that there are quicker and faster ways of sorting and transporting the mail.

"We have machines which can do the sorting quicker and the road links have improved considerably.

Today is a sad day because there is an emotional attachment to the mail trains Steve Griffiths, TPO manager

"The staff on the trains are very highly regarded but at the same time they work in relatively primitive conditions because the trains have remained unchanged for about 100 years with the exception of electric lights.

"TPOs were great in their time and did an excellent job, but the world has moved on and train reliability is affecting our quality of service.

"But, today is a sad day because there is an emotional attachment to the mail trains," he added.

The final Cardiff to Glasgow mail train left Cardiff Central Station at 2004 BST on Friday.