Help With Rypo Cancel Needed

Anyone able to identify this cancel and is the first 5 upside down or maybe wrong altogether, could this have been mailed in the 1950's?
Thanks
Paul

If you squint a little I think you will find that it reads 95 as in 1895

Richard

(Oooo, a puzzle that needs solving!!)

Hi Plsllyn,
with ziggy9 on the date.

W / NO 26 / 95 / RY.P.O.
= West-bound Train / November 26, 1895 / Railway Post Office

An RPO cancel. Usually these say RPO but some do say RY PO. Or even M.C. (Mail Coach), STN. (Station) or others. The & symbol is a dead give-away that it's an RPO, or a traveling Railway Post Office on a railway car or coach. (called TPO in Great Britain.)

The place names are difficult (easier if you had it in hand so you could tilt it in the light and twirl it around so the letters are upright when trying to read them. But . . .

ST(.)H (or N) **NS & (and) (the character above 'W') E (or F) C(?) *****(?)

(The) St.(Saint) H**NS &(and) FO***** (Railway) (?)

If one had a listing of Quebec (or New Brunswick) Railway cancels (from the old Ludlow catalog or the newer Gray(?) catalog) I think you could start comparing names and see which ones had RY PO first and then the ones that had two place names in the cancel name. It would narrow down quickly.

The letters that I guessed are only approximate. It helps a lot if you know the place names (say from the area where you live or know well). I am not too familiar with the French place names myself. Mostly Nova Scotia.

Examples of RPO cancels:


Envelope Back-stamped Transit Marking ’ANNAPOLIS & YARMOUTH / EAST / DEC 25 / 95 / M.C.’
on the train travelling East from Yarmouth towards Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia in 1895 on Christmas Day.


Interesting Transit mark’TOR.& MONT. G.T.RY / D.E. / DE 14 / 95 / 11
(Toronto and Montreal Grand Trunk Railway (Dead Ender? Destination East? Destination de l'Est?) December 14, 1895, Hammer 11)


HALIFAX & TRURO / 6 / JUL 3 / 39 / RPO.
Halifax and Truro (Nova Scotia), Train 6, etc


INVERNESS & PT.(Point)TUPPER / 156 (Train Number) / JUN 19 / 39 / * RPO * (In Nova Scotia)

Extra Extra:

List of Railways Now in Canada (on Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ian_railways

List of Defunct Railways in Canada (on Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ian_railways

Of some use but please note:

Not all Railways or parts thereof are listed there.
Example;
The Napanee and Tamworth railway in Ontario (1895) (Part of the Grand Trunk Railway system I think, is not in the Wikipedia list..


So, some Quebec railway cancels (or others) will not be there.

A friend has a Ludlow catalog. I will see if I can borrow it sometime and let you know what I come up with. (If no one else has an answer.)

Looking at your cancel again it seems that the first bit may be ST.MARY'S & ****** ??? It seems to fit, length-wise anyway. And the second word / name may be Eustache(??) but look at a map and see where these places are too. I may be way off.

Here are a few more possibilities
St.John's
St.Albans
Eureka
Exploits
Elgin
E (short for East) just a guess

I've squinted and I've Zoomed but for the life of me I can not see the resemblance to a 9?
Thanks for all the input
Paul

Paul-

Try this...on the left scan (where the cancel is upright), hold a small piece of paper over the left half of the "6", leaving about as much of the six showing as there is of the "9." Obviously one's inverted, but they bear a similar relationship to each other.

Corny, I know, but it helps me visualize the rest of the 9.

Collin

Could it be St. Thomas and Fort Erie RYPO?

That's the only combination that I can find in my book, A History of Canadian R.P.P's. where the first town ends in "S" and the second town starts with "F".

Thank you for correcting my mistaken assumptions doodles.

I had assumed because there was a ST it was Quebec or French, but now I remember the French postmarks have STE instead of ST, how French abbreviates Sainte.

Is St Thomas in Ontario? I assume Fort Erie is because of the canal by the same name (Erie Canal)? Some of my geography is not so good.

But I usually know where I am anyway. Sometimes I have to look and find myself.

Hi Puzzler
Yes St. Thomas is in Southwestern Ontario. It's the seat of Elgin County.
It's also known as the railroad capital of Canada. http://www.discover-southern-ontari...ontario.html Here is an interesting websight if anyone is interested.
Have a great day.

Puzzler: thanks for putting on the Halifax&Truro rpo. I had occasion to pass through the Truro hub a few times in its heyday and have snagged your image for nostalgia's sake.

General question: anyone hazard a guess as to whether the small queen is Scott#37 or Scott#41?

That depends on whether it's a male saint or a female saint. Male saints (Saint) are abbreviated St., female saints (Sainte) are abbreviated Ste.

Ryan