Although they were operational for little more than sixty years, the Royal Mail Coaches left behind an indelible romantic memory. Surely no Christmas would be complete without some cards showing a mail coach with cheerful, festive passengers trotting through a snow covered landscape. In fact, journeys on the coaches were probably seldom the happy-go-lucky events depicted on the cards. The seating inside the coach was hardly luxurious and for the driver, guard and passengers perched outside on the roof the journey was likely to be uncomfortable and, on occasions, dangerous.