{"nrhp_refnum":"79002261","name":"Combination Baggage and Mail Car No. 5403","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"E of Strasburg","address_restricted":false,"city":"Strasburg","county":"Lancaster County","state":"PA","lat":39.982416870000066,"lon":-76.16077163499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-12-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation","Invention"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A wooden combination baggage and mail railway car, Car No. 5403, Class BC, built at the Pennsylvania Railroad's Juniata Shops in 1893 and located in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It is one of the rolling stock resources nominated as part of the Pennsylvania Railroad Rolling Stock thematic group.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the car is significant as a surviving example of Pennsylvania Railroad rolling stock, a varied group of historically significant cars, many of which are the only surviving specimens of their types. The car served as a working post office on wheels, with clerks sorting mail en route and a drop letter slot in the door that let patrons use it as a mobile letter box at station stops. The document notes all of the cars are genuine rather than replicas.","narrative":"Built at the Pennsylvania Railroad's Juniata Shops in 1893, Combination Baggage and Mail Car No. 5403 is a wooden railway car of Class BC, measuring 61 feet 3 inches in total length and carried on a wooden underframe. It was a working post office on wheels. Clerks sorted mail while the train moved, picking up and delivering pouches at railroad stations. A drop letter slot in the door allowed patrons to post letters through the car during station stops. The car is part of the Pennsylvania Railroad Rolling Stock thematic group, which is valued for its range of car types. Many of the cars in the group are the only surviving examples of their types. Car No. 5403 is in Strasburg, Lancaster County, and the nomination notes that it is an original car rather than a replica.","period_of_significance":"1893","architect_builder":"Pennsylvania Railroad, Juniata Shops","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:34.466736-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/79002261.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71993159","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/lancaster-county/combination-baggage-and-mail-car-no-5403-79002261/"}