Our Railroad Mail bill commemorates the use of railroads to move the nation's mail. The Post Office Department recognized the value of using railroads for transportation of mail as early as November 30, 1832, when a contract for railroad mail was initiated on a route from Philadelphia to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After passage of the Act of July 7, 1838, designating all railroads in the United States as post routes, mail service by railroad increased rapidly. In 1930, more than 10,000 trains were used to move the mail into every city, town, and village in the United States. Following passage of the Transportation Act of 1958, mail-carrying passenger trains declined rapidly. By 1965, only 190 trains carried mail; by 1970, the railroads carried virtually no First-Class Mail.