Difficulty had all along been felt in supplying postal facilities to the small bodies of troops stationed at or near railway stations where there were no post offices. Mr. van Someren removed this difficulty by introducing a combined Post and Railway Mail Service between Pekin and Taku and Tientsin and Shanhaikwan, a scheme which was a new one in the history of the field postal service. Postal clerks had not only to sort letters in the trains, but also to receive and deliver letters and sell postage stamps at each railway station. By August, 1901, there was a reduction of the number of troops in China and fourteen field post offices were closed, the supervising staff being reduced to a Chief Superintendent and an inspecting postmaster in North China and a Superintendent and an inspecting postmaster at Hongkong. Mr. van Someren left China on the 5th August, 1901, leaving Mr. Thompson in charge.
This was the first occasion that a large postal establishment had to be sent out with a military expedition overseas to a foreign country. The force consisted of over 37,000 men stationed at various places from Shanghai to Taku and Taku to Pekin. The harmonious relations with the Chinese Imperial Postal Administration and the material assistance which it rendered on every possible occasion greatly helped to the success of the Indian Field Post Office administration in China.
The postal arrangements made to serve the Somaliland Field Force extended over a period of nearly two years from January, 1903, to November, 1904. Mr. Wynch, who was appointed Chief Superintendent, remained till June, 1904, when he was invalided and relieved by Mr. A. J. Hughes, who held charge until the end of the operations. The strength of the force was 3000, and at first one base office and one field post office, with one postmaster, five clerks and four packers, were provided. Mails were exchanged between India and Somaliland by Government transports. The field post offices were closed on the 25th November, 1904.
In 1903 the Government of India decided to send a small force to escort the Tibet Frontier Commission. At first a number of temporary post offices and lines were opened under the control of the Superintendent of post offices, Jalpaiguri Division, to serve the Mission, but it was not until it was decided that the Mission should advance into the Chumbi Valley that field post offices and lines were required. The Mission was headed by Colonel Younghusband and the escort was commanded by General MacDonald, with Mr. H. Tulloch as Chief Superintendent.