American
Railway Express/Railway Express Agency Badges
This one has an extremely LOW employee number, so is probably from the early
1920s or perhaps earlier. It has the
clasp and hook arrangement on the back, similar to scan #6 below.
The Railway
Express Agency was formed in 1929 by, I believe, the merging of the American
Railway Express, the American Express and the Adams Express. There were eventually three (3) style REA
badges in use that I know of (I’ve seen three (3) styles of backs as well):
This badge is
representative of the first REA badge issued in 1929. The words “Railway” and “Agency” are in black
with the word “Express” in white. It was in use one year only.
A fine example of the 1929 badge, with one of
the lowest ID numbers I’ve ever seen on a REA badge. They must have had
quite a few employees that first year, either new or transferring from Am. Ry. Exp., because I’ve seen a 1929-style badge on e-bay
with an employee number in excess of 20,000 and the clasp style of scan #6
below!!
Clasp
arrangement on the 1929-era badge #1984:
In 1930, the
lettering was changed to all white as is evident on this badge below:
Quite a high employee number on this sample.
The clasp-back
had been modified sometime still in 1929. This is the back
of the employee
#20,000+ 1929-style badge. Same style clasp appeared on all later badges
until the threaded screw-post type appeared on the scene:
In either the
late 1950s or early 1960s, the logo changed and this style badge was
issued with the
threaded post on the back and was in use until their demise from handling
railroad express in the mid-late 1960s:
You can see by
now that the employee numbering is up to almost
81,000! Some payroll!!!!
Research/Archive: Dave Keller
March, 2007