Scottish Mail Centres - Historical Query

[Lockardian]

At present there are four mail centres in Scotland:
Glasgow (G, PA, KA, ML)
Edinburgh (EH, TD, KY, DD, FK, PH)
Aberdeen (AB, ZE)
Inverness (IV, KW, HS)

These four mail centres cover all of Scotland apart from
the DG area, which is serviced by Carlisle.

I’m just wondering if this has always been the case or did there used to be more mail centres? Some locations served by Edinburgh in particular are quite a long way up north and probably closer geographically to Aberdeen.

I know that the KA and TD codes, or at least some of them, used to be done at Carlisle. Not sure when this changed and they went to Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively.

I think there is still an operation of some sort at Perth - maybe a Parcelforce depot which may act as a point in the chain between mail centres (I’ve seen Aberdeen to Glasgow via Perth York labels or similar).

Can anyone who works in Scotland answer any of these queries? I’m merely curious - nothing more!

[P13]

There used to be places called mechanised letter offices (MLO), these were more localised. For example PH & DD were in an MLO in Perth, I believe they eventually merged into the larger Mail Centres we now know .

[SpacePhoenix]

There used to be places called mechanised letter offices (MLO), these were more localised. For example PH & DD were in an MLO in Perth, I believe they eventually merged into the larger Mail Centres we now know .

Think I've heard of MLOs before. Were they literally just LSMs, MTTs, CFCs and IMPs plus the staff to run them?

[P13]

Used to take the collections to my local MLO but no idea what the machines were called. I don't think they were as advanced as the ones nowadays, the mail used to go through a coding desk before being sorted by the machines.

[SpacePhoenix]

Used to take the collections to my local MLO but no idea what the machines were called. I don't think they were as advanced as the ones nowadays, the mail used to go through a coding desk before being sorted by the machines.

Did them machines have what looks like a washing machine drum? If they did and they didn't have any sorting section then they were CFCs. If they had a sorting section then they would have been IMPs. MTTs kinda looked like a CSS but all they did was read the address and print the route and tag codes onto the mail and sort them to the relevant sort plan (ready for sorting on an LSM)

[sam63]

At present there are four mail centres in Scotland:
Glasgow (G, PA, KA, ML)
Edinburgh (EH, TD, KY, DD, FK, PH)
Aberdeen (AB, ZE)
Inverness (IV, KW, HS)

These four mail centres cover all of Scotland apart from
the DG area, which is serviced by Carlisle.

I’m just wondering if this has always been the case or did there used to be more mail centres? Some locations served by Edinburgh in particular are quite a long way up north and probably closer geographically to Aberdeen.

I know that the KA and TD codes, or at least some of them, used to be done at Carlisle. Not sure when this changed and they went to Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively.

I think there is still an operation of some sort at Perth - maybe a Parcelforce depot which may act as a point in the chain between mail centres (I’ve seen Aberdeen to Glasgow via Perth York labels or similar).

Can anyone who works in Scotland answer any of these queries? I’m merely curious - nothing more!

Perth MLO closed in 1994, with all the PH /DD Mail going to Edinburgh MC, I work in Aberdeen and our Mail to and from GLasgow hubs at Perth.
Ther was a big campaign to keep Perth open but it didn’t and there started run on the closures.
Don’t ever recall KA and TD going to Carlisle in my 43 years to be honest.
HS used to be in Glasgow when it was a PA code but changed a few years ago to HS and Inverness MC.

[Lockardian]

Thanks for the info.

Sam - when you say that Aberdeen-Glasgow mail hubs at Perth, what does that mean exactly? It goes to Perth and is then transferred onto another vehicle along with other stuff?

Do you still sort Inverness’s 2C/T48 at Aberdeen? I assume 2C then goes to the SDC except for locals and mail for Inverness’s catchment area? I ask because I’ve seen Yorks of 2C labelled as from Inverness which we never used to get.

Someone from Carlisle MC told me the they used to cover LA, KA and TD as well as CA and DG. Possibly a temporary or overflow arrangement? Carlisle now only deals with 1C except for mech letters - the 2C and T48 goes to Preston and Warrington (and from last year probably on to the NWH, like a lot of the 2C from northern England mail centres). I wonder if any 2C from Scotland will end up at a hub one day?!

[sam63]

Thanks for the info.

Sam - when you say that Aberdeen-Glasgow mail hubs at Perth, what does that mean exactly? It goes to Perth and is then transferred onto another vehicle along with other stuff?

Do you still sort Inverness’s 2C/T48 at Aberdeen? I assume 2C then goes to the SDC except for locals and mail for Inverness’s catchment area? I ask because I’ve seen Yorks of 2C labelled as from Inverness which we never used to get.

Someone from Carlisle MC told me the they used to cover LA, KA and TD as well as CA and DG. Possibly a temporary or overflow arrangement? Carlisle now only deals with 1C except for mech letters - the 2C and T48 goes to Preston and Warrington (and from last year probably on to the NWH, like a lot of the 2C from northern England mail centres). I wonder if any 2C from Scotland will end up at a hub one day?!
Our motor goes to Perth and so does the Glasgow motor and Mail is switched ar Perth to go on to Glasgow and we take AB back

IV 2c - no we used to do their 2c mech but we lost that a few years ago when I was Area Processing Rep, we lost our early shift at the same time as our 2c pcls went to Glasgow 2010 iirc. I was Area Rep from 2006 to end of 2017 now sub Area Rep so not much I haven’t seen or had to deal with tbh.

[sam63]

We still run our own 2c mech - flats GoTo Edinburgh been gone since well before 2010.
Still have the agreement signed copy in filing cabinet will check date out of curiosity.
As said manual letters and pcls gone since 2010. Had to do a very complex MTSF resign in 2011 with a mixture of fixed shifts and Rota’s which had elements of pure seniority and also pay protection overriding seniority where applicable- took 9 months to get to the point of starting the resign.
Had to do another MTSF resign in May / June 2021 -was complex but as I had done it before pretty much knew how it would be done and there were still elements of seniority deciding who gets what particularity the 9 vacant fixed nights which went up for grabs

[SpacePhoenix]

Someone from Carlisle MC told me the they used to cover LA, KA and TD as well as CA and DG. Possibly a temporary or overflow arrangement? Carlisle now only deals with 1C except for mech letters - the 2C and T48 goes to Preston and Warrington (and from last year probably on to the NWH, like a lot of the 2C from northern England mail centres). I wonder if any 2C from Scotland will end up at a hub one day?!

Once all the super-hubs are eventually online I don't think any MC anywhere will keep their 2C packets and Tracked 48

[Lockardian]

Info appreciated as always.

Does Inverness 2C/T48 now get sorted locally or does it go to Glasgow/Edinburgh?

SP - I expect you’re right. Now that the NWH is up and running I don’t think there are any MCs in Northern England that do their own 2C/T48 (except for mech letters and flats for those with FSMs). Some even send 1C/T24 there. The new Midlands hub is set to take the work off the Midlands centres and Princess Royal DC seems to sort 2C/T48 packets for some of the London/SE centres.

It’s easier now to ask which Mail Centres DO process their own 2C than vice versa - a couple of years ago there was only about three or four 1C only centres (Aberdeen[?], Carlisle, Inverness and Norwich).

[SpacePhoenix]

It’s easier now to ask which Mail Centres DO process their own 2C than vice versa - a couple of years ago there was only about three or four 1C only centres (Aberdeen[?], Carlisle, Inverness and Norwich).

In some cases where one MC has lost their 2C/T48 to the hub, they might now take the 2C/t48 from another MC, (maybe all of a MCs 2C/T48 if it's a small MC), especially if the MC doing the taking has a PSM

[Lockardian]

It’s easier now to ask which Mail Centres DO process their own 2C than vice versa - a couple of years ago there was only about three or four 1C only centres (Aberdeen[?], Carlisle, Inverness and Norwich).

In some cases where one MC has lost their 2C/T48 to the hub, they might now take the 2C/t48 from another MC, (maybe all of a MCs 2C/T48 if it's a small MC), especially if the MC doing the taking has a PSM

I think that’s the case with Preston - they process Carlisle’s 2C/T48 (or still did until recently) but send their own 2C to the hub.

[Navalron]

At present there are four mail centres in Scotland:
Glasgow (G, PA, KA, ML)
Edinburgh (EH, TD, KY, DD, FK, PH)
Aberdeen (AB, ZE)
Inverness (IV, KW, HS)

These four mail centres cover all of Scotland apart from
the DG area, which is serviced by Carlisle.

I’m just wondering if this has always been the case or did there used to be more mail centres? Some locations served by Edinburgh in particular are quite a long way up north and probably closer geographically to Aberdeen.

I know that the KA and TD codes, or at least some of them, used to be done at Carlisle. Not sure when this changed and they went to Glasgow and Edinburgh respectively.

I think there is still an operation of some sort at Perth - maybe a Parcelforce depot which may act as a point in the chain between mail centres (I’ve seen Aberdeen to Glasgow via Perth York labels or similar).

Can anyone who works in Scotland answer any of these queries? I’m merely curious - nothing more!

Perth MLO closed in 1994, with all the PH /DD Mail going to Edinburgh MC, I work in Aberdeen and our Mail to and from GLasgow hubs at Perth.
Ther was a big campaign to keep Perth open but it didn’t and there started run on the closures.
Don’t ever recall KA and TD going to Carlisle in my 43 years to be honest.
HS used to be in Glasgow when it was a PA code but changed a few years ago to HS and Inverness MC.

Yes we did Perth mail from Glasgow MLO and also when we moved to Glasgow mail centre ( which was still too small). There were a lot of mad duties, with 600s and class 1s passing each other empty, from perth, Aberdeen and Inverness. I heard through the grapevine a couple of years ago that Glasgow and Edinburgh mail centres would close and they would open up a big mail centre in Livingston. Can't see that happening, not unless the work has dropped off dramatically. There used to be about 400 on a back shift, 280 on nights and about 85 on earlys. And that not including us drivers. Couldn't really tell how.many drivers we had because we were always hiding a long way from any mail centres of DOs

[wallan]

The North West DN TPO DIV 6 Sorted Mails For The TD Postcode Area , Routed Via Carlisle Stn For Conecting Road Services