When did the "via Siberia" mail route begin?

Submitted by David on Tue, 06/10/2014 - 17:57

I'm trying to help a friend date an old postcard that was sent from HK to their family in Britain. Unfortunately the stamp is off, so there's no postmark, but they note it is marked "via Siberia".

Does anyone know when that mail route started?

They guess it was sent around 1905-08.

Thanks & regards, David

David,

I have a postcard which is marked Via Siberia which was sent to London on November 3, 1924. The picture is on my  website to show position of The Towers relative to to No 27.

Somewhere, I also have an undated picture of people who are are presumably family friends about to board a train with Siberia marked on the roof board. This pic would have been 1923 at the very latest. But as memory serves has nothing on back. If I find it will post.

Sean

Hi there,

I wonder if it has something to do with the famed Orient Express train route back then?

Thanks & Best Regards,

T

Thanks Sean. The train photo sounds interesting - any idea where they were departing from?

Thomas, I checked and found that despite its name, the Orient Express never got further east than Istanbul:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express#Routes

IDJ, thanks for the link. I see a few familiar names among their members, so I'll ask for their help.

Regards, David

Hi Thomas,

Yes, that's the one.

Thanks to Richard Whittington for the dates it began:

First HK mails via Shanghai and the trans-Siberian route were sent in November 1903 but this was short-lived ending February 1904 due to the outbreak of the Japanese-Russian conflict.

Following the end of the Japanese-Russian conflict the trans-Siberian mail route re-opened in March 1907.

I wondered how the mail got south to Hong Kong, as there wasn't a railway link between the trans-siberian and Hong Kong at that time. I found a mention that indicates it went via Shanghai by ship, though I'm not sure if the rail >> ship switch happened at Shanghai, or further north:

LOSSES OF MAILS

The mail for London, via Siberia from Shanghai on 30th March, 1907, was opened and ransacked on board the S.S. Baltica.

Report of the Post Office Department, for the year 1907.

Regards, David