Railroad Calendar Delivered 63 Years Late By Postal Service

A Pennsylvania Railroad calendar arrived at its intended destination on Friday with just one flaw – the Postal Service delivered it 63 years late.

The package was delivered to the front desk of The Scranton Times-Tribune in Pennsylvania, with no indication from the postal carrier that anything was out of the ordinary. Bobby Lynett, a publisher of The Times-Tribune and CEO of Times-Shamrock Communications, was quickly given the unusual tube shaped parcel.

The Scranton Times-Tribune writes that Lynett carefully unrolled the contents and found a 1950 Pennsylvania Railroad calendar. Featuring a painting by Grif Teller titled Crossroads of Commerce, the calendar was originally mailed from the railroad’s publicity department in Philadelphia.

The package was addressed to James W. Flanagan, who served as the newspaper’s general manager from 1936 until his passing in 1949. His impressive career with the newspaper spanned 54 years beginning in 1895 with a salesboy position. He was 63-years-old at the time of his death.

The Postal Service has not been able to trace the history of Flanagan’s 63-years-late calendar but a spokesman offered a few possible scenarios.

Lost mail is sometimes recovered when a machine is taken apart or during post office renovations. There have also been cases involving mail found inside purchased items, such as furniture from a yard sale. When someone finds a piece of lost letter or package in such instances, they will often drop the item back into mail circulation.

According to The Associated Press, Bobby Lynette plans to contact a railroad museum at the Steamtown National Historic Site to find if the calendar would be of interest to them. If that’s not an option he says he will put the railroad calendar on display in the Times-Tribune offices.

What do you think about a railroad calendar being delivered 63 years late by the Postal Service?