Royal Mail will stop using trains to transport post in a move that brings nearly two centuries of mail rail to an end.
The postal service will inform staff today that it is planning to sell off its freight trains and switch to road deliveries.
The shake-up comes after bosses at Royal Mail's owner International Distribution Services agreed to sell the company to 'Czech Sphinx' Daniel Kretinsky for £3.5billion.
A deal would see the 508-year-old postal service fall into foreign hands for the first time since it was established by Henry VIII in 1516.
Royal Mail's decision to scrap freight trains brings its 194-year relationship with Britain's railways to a close.
Mail was first moved on to the tracks in 1830 - seven years before
Queen Victoria took the throne.
