Contractor's Mail Car No. 1 (Yale Shops) c. 1884
BCA Photograph No. 74937
BCA Call No. I-30844-8594
Photo in Onderdonk Album, #5, 11. (BCA Accession No. 98401-6)

Until the trains started running with some regularity in early 1884, the mail had been brought to Yale from New Westminster by sternwheeler. This meant that if navigation to Yale was impossible, due to icing conditions on the river, there was no mail service. When the trains began to establish a regular service, the mail was brought by train to Yale, and points north. No doubt Onderdonk had this special mail car built in his Yale Shops some time in 1884 to accommodate the transportation of mail.