London Post Office Railway and Glassboro, New Jersey: Difference between pages

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Revision as of 04:09, 1 September 2004

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[[Image:Map of Gloucester County highlighting Glassboro.png|right|thumb|250px|Glassboro highlighted in Gloucester County. Inset map: Gloucester County highlighted in the State of New Jersey.]]

The '''Post Office Railway''', also known as '''Mail Rail''', is a [[narrow gauge]] driverless private [[metro|underground railway]] in [[London]] built by the [[Post Office]] to move mail between sorting offices. It was in operation from [[1927]] to [[2003]], but is now being mothballed.

'''Glassboro''' is a borough located in [[Gloucester County, New Jersey]]. As of the [[2000]] census, the borough had a total population of 19,068.

During the [[Cold War]], U.S. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] met with Soviet Premier [[Aleksei Kosygin]] from [[June 23]] to [[June 25]], [[1967]] in Glassboro for a three-day summit conference. They met at Glassboro State College, later renamed [[Rowan University]]. The ___location was chosen as a compromise. Kosygin, having agreed to address the [[United Nations]] in [[New York City]], wanted to meet in New York City. Johnson, wary of encountering protests against the [[Vietnam War]], preferred to meet in [[Washington, D.C.]] They agreed on Glassboro because it was equidistant between the two cities. The generally amicable atmosphere of the summit was referred to as the "Spirit of Glassboro," although the leaders failed to reach agreement on limiting [[anti-ballistic missile]] systems.

It runs east-west from [[Paddington]] in the west to [[Whitechapel]] in the east, a distance of six and a half [[mile]]s (10.5 [[km]]). It has eight stations, but by 2003 only three of these were still in use, as the sorting offices above the others had been relocated.

[[Betty Castor]] was born and grew up in Glassboro.

A memo leaked in April [[2003]] revealed that the system would be closed and "mothballed" at the end of May. [[Royal Mail]] had earlier said that it was five times more expensive than using road transport would be. The [[Communication Workers' Union]] claimed the figure was closer to three times, and even this was due to a deliberate policy of running the system down and using it at one-third of its capacity. Despite a report by the [[Greater London Authority]] in support of the continued use of Mail Rail, the system was taken out of use in the early hours of [[May 31]], [[2003]].

==External linksGeography ==

Glassboro is located at 39°42'21" North, 75°6'60" West (39.705914, -75.116651)[[Geographic references|¹]].

*Brief introduction to the [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/c.karslake/mailrail/html/home.html London Post Office Railway]

*Detailed information on [http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r023.html construction and operation.]

*Royal Mail [http://www.royalmailgroup.com/heritage/downloads/infosheet_12.pdf Factsheet] ([[Portable Document Format|PDF]] format) dating from before mothballing.

*[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,940742,00.html Guardian article] on proposed mothballing.

*[http://www.london.gov.uk/approot/assembly/reports/mailrail/mailrail.pdf GLA report] on the closure in [[Portable Document Format|PDF]] format.

*[http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/topstories/display.var.301893.0.final_delivery_for_mail_rail.php This is Local London] news report on the closure.

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the borough has a total area of 23.9 [[square kilometer|km²]] (9.2 [[square mile|mi²]]). 23.9 km² (9.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.11% is water.

==See also==

*[[Subterranean London]]

Glassboro borders [[Elk Township, New Jersey|Elk Township]], [[Clayton, New Jersey|Clayton]], [[Monroe Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey|Monroe Township]], [[Washington Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey|Washington Township]], [[Pitman, New Jersey|Pitman]], [[Mantua Township, New Jersey|Mantua Township]], and [[Harrison Township, New Jersey|Harrison Township]].

*[[List of British heritage and private railways]]

== Demographics ==

As of the [[census]] of [[2000]], there are 19,068 people, 6,225 households, and 4,046 families residing in the borough. The [[population density]] is 799.4/km² (2,071.3/mi²). There are 6,555 housing units at an average density of 274.8/km² (712.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough is 74.53% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 19.47% [[African American (U.S. Census)|African American]], 0.17% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 2.31% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.09% [[Pacific Islander (U.S. Census)|Pacific Islander]], 1.48% from other races, and 1.95% from two or more races. 3.82% of the population are [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race.

There are 6,225 households out of which 32.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% are married couples living together, 14.6% have a female householder with no husband present, and 35.0% are non-families. 23.6% of all households are made up of individuals and 8.4% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.66 and the average family size is 3.17.

In the borough the population is spread out with 22.1% under the age of 18, 25.6% from 18 to 24, 25.9% from 25 to 44, 16.6% from 45 to 64, and 9.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 27 years. For every 100 females there are 91.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 89.3 males.

The median income for a household in the borough is $44,992, and the median income for a family is $55,246. Males have a median income of $40,139 versus $30,358 for females. The per capita income for the borough is $18,113. 15.2% of the population and 8.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 15.6% are under the age of 18 and 7.9% are 65 or older.