Under the Railway Letter Service, a letter could be passed from train to train and railway to railway until it was finally collected at a station, or posted at a station local to the addressee. The original commercial advantage of the scheme rested on it being quicker and more reliable than the ordinary G.P.O. service. Anyone with an important document urgently required elsewhere (usually London) could consult Bradshaw and discover the next train from the local station offering a connection with a train to London (or wherever) and they could then hand in the letter at the local station, secure in the knowledge that the recipient (whom they informed by telephone or telegraph) could collect it on arrival by the specified train. The G.P.O./Royal Mail insisted that the normal postage be paid with Post Office stamps in addition to any railway letter fee and this condition continues.