New stamps from Royal Mail..

 

Classic Locomotives

Date of Issue : 20 February 2014

Royal mail issued a miniature sheet featuring classic locomotives.

The delightful, bilingual Miniature Sheet features all four Classic Locomotives of Wales stamps, together with a dramatic photograph of the BR Class 5101 2-6-2T No. 4126 as it crosses the Crumlin Viaduct with a passenger train in 1963 in its border.

LMS No. 7720 First Class

Built in 1895 at the Crewe Works for the London and North Western Railway, the LMS “coal tank” is pictured leaving Britannia Bridge, pulling a Bangor-to-Holyhead local train in around 1930.

Hunslet No. 589 Blanche 78p

This stamp shows Blanche at the Pen Cob Halt on the Ffestiniog Railway in 1964. The locomotive was originally made for the Penrhyn Slate Quarry by the Leeds based Hunslet Engine Company. The narrow gauge Ffestiniog railway took slate to the harbour at Porthmadog.

W&LLR No. 822 88p

The Earl Photographed waiting for a car to be moved from the line on Welshpool’s Union Street in 1953, The Earl was constructed for the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway in 1902.

BR 5600 No. 5652 £1.28

The BR 5600 freight engine was designed by the Great Western Railway company to transport goods across its massive rail network. The stamp shows the loco pulling coal at Cwmbargoed in 1959.

British Flora

Date of Issue : 19 February 2014

Another set of stamps issued by Royal Mail on 19th February 2014 feature some varieties of British Flora. This is under the series Pictorial Post & Go Stamps by Royal Mail. The six Spring Blooms Post & Go Stamps are printed in a vertical strip and overprinted with First Class values. They are brought on a carrier complete with fascinating facts about each of these beautiful but in some cases declining species.

Primrose

Walk into a clearing in the woods and you could well be pleasantly surprised by a colony of primroses, for a sheltered spot between the trees is one of their favored habitats, as well as parks and churchyards. According to folklore, these lemon-yellow flowers with their heart-shaped petals – which flower from February to May – will grow red if watered with bullock’s blood or planted upside down on Good Friday.

Snowdrop

Haunting woods, meadows, parks and churchyards, these delicate lantern-shaped blooms encapsulate, for many, the beginning of spring. From the Amaryllidaceae family, they are in flower in February and March. A symbol of hope and purity, the snowdrop is traditionally dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Lesser Celandine

Catch these bright yellow star-like flowers on a sunny spring day and you will be in for a treat, for they open wide in the sunshine. Spot them in woods and hedgerows and on road verges and the banks of streams from March to May. “Local” names for the celandine include “goldy knob”, “filding cup” and “golden guinea”.

Common Dog Violet

From April to June, these rich purple flowers bloom across Britain’s woods, downlands and grass heaths. From the Violaceae family, dog violets are widespread throughout the British Isles.

Wild Daffodil

The iconic bright yellow flower that famously inspired William Wordsworth blooms from February to April, and is seen in coppice and open woodland. Its Latin name, Narcissus pseudonarcissus, is said to have come from the Greek mythological figure Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. The daffodil’s trumpet shaped center is seen as the head of Narcissus bending down while he admires his face in the water. Daffodils are traditionally meant to first flower on St David’s Day – 1 March.

Blackthorn

Forming hedgerows and scrub, the white flowers of this very spiny shrub are in bloom from March to May. Come the autumn, the blackthorn produces sloes – those plump, purple berries that are used, of course, to make sloe gin.

Classic Locomotives

 

Date of Issue : 18 June 2013

Royal Mail issued a new set of stamps on classic locomotives on 18th June. Classic Locomotives of Northern Ireland is the third in Royal Mail’s series to commemorate these unsung workhorses of the railway network. The set of four stamps and a miniature sheet feature following locomotives : Royal Mail has also issued for  stamp cards for each stamp.

1st Class – UTA W Class No. 103
UTA Class W No.103 ‘Thomas Somerset’ with a Belfast-bound up express between the two tunnels at Downhill, west of Castlerock c1950

78p – UTA SG3 Class No. 35
The SG3 Class locomotive shunts wagons at Portadown in 1963..

88p – Peckett No. 2
Peckett No.2 reverses wagons into the British Aluminum works at Larne in 1937.

£1.28 – CDRJC Class 5 No. 4
The Class 5 locomotive Meenglas shunts a carriage at Strabane in 1959.

The Miniature Sheet features all four Classic Locomotives of Northern Ireland stamps, together with a fabulous photograph of the UTA Class Z No. 27 Lough Erne crossing Larne Lough in 1968 in its border.

Classic Locomotives of Northern Ireland Stamp Cards

Each of these glorious stamps, together with the Miniature Sheet itself, has been reproduced at postcard size.

New stamps from Canada

Date of Issue : 21 June 2013

Canada Post unveils two stamps honouring Canadian heroes Laura Secord and Charles de Salaberry; the second in a series commemorating the War of 1812.

Niagara Falls MP Rob Nicholson and Canada Post representative Tom Creech at a Laura Secord stamp and coin release in Queenston on Friday.

Secord braved a 30-kilometre walk through the wilderness to warn a British outpost of an impending American attack.   In June 1813, a group of American officers billeted themselves at the home of Laura Secord in Queenston.  She overheard the officers discussing plans to attack a British outpost.  Secord managed to secretly slip away to warn the British.  She found the local British commander, Lieutenant James Fitzgibbon, who used the information to position his men and First Nations warriors to ambush the enemy and capture more than 400 American soldiers.

In the fall of 1813, as commander of a group of fighters in Lower Canada, Lieutenant-Colonel de Salaberry’s strategy enabled his outnumbered Canadian force to fight off an American invasion aimed at capturing Montréal.  He anticipated the invaders would cross the Châteauguay River, 50-km southwest of Montréal.  De Salaberry used the swampland and trees to his advantage, ordering his men to build barricades of felled trees and then spread his troops across the area, giving the impression of a large, hidden Canadian force.  After four hours of fighting, the Americans retreated and Montréal was saved.

New special Covers

A special cover was released by Andhra Pradesh Postal Circle in honour of former President of India, Dr. Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy on 19th May 2013 to mark his 100th birth anniversary celebrations.

First All Women Post Offce of Maharashtra

12 April 2013 : Mumbai

: Prakash Bubkiya

New stamps on Locomotives..

 

Date of Issue : 5 June 2013

On  June 5, Magyar Posta issued two new stamps on the subject of rail transport. On the 50^thanniversary of their entry into service, Hungarian State Railways’ V43 Szili electric locomotive and M61 “Nohab” diesel-electric locomotive have appeared on stamps. The designs of the first day covers and the postmarks are decorated by compositions related to locomotives.

 

     

In 1961 Hungarian State Railways decided to acquire a new class of “standard”, high performance electric locomotive to replace rolling stock from the twenties and thirties, and to run on the growing number of electrified lines. The first seven locomotives numbered V43 001 to 007 were assembled in the Krupp Works and entered into service in 1963. At the time they were among the most modern vehicles of their type in Europe, mainly due to the use of silicon semiconductors, hence also their nickname Szili. A total of 379 V43s were built. The last Szili, V43 1379, left the Ganz-Mávag Works in 1982.

The V43 became the main workhorse of the electrified lines within a short space of time. The locomotive is suitable for pulling passenger, freight and push-pull trains. At the end of the fifties steam traction was in decline in Hungary as elsewhere. At the same time Hungarian State Railways, like many other rail companies, was gradually introducing diesel power and electrification. Because only a few main lines had been electrified by this time, modernizing traction meant the acquisition of diesel locomotives. Trials were held for several test vehicles before the decision was reached to purchase a six-axle diesel-electric locomotive from the Swedish engineering firm NOHAB. The first two vehicles in the series began operating in scheduled services in May 1963. Later they were present on all main lines, mainly pulling long-distance fast and express trains.

NOHAB became a cult locomotive among train enthusiasts and some have been preserved in museums and for use for special “nostalgia” services such as the Transylvanian Express.

Darjeeling Himalayan Railway…

 

Indian themes on foreign stamps…

- Kenneth Sequeira

 

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR)  nicknamed the "Toy Train", is a 2 ft railway from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling in West Bengal, run by the Indian Railways.

It was built between 1879 and 1881 and is about 86 kms.  Four modern diesel locomotives handle most of the scheduled services: however the daily Kurseong-Darjeeling return service and the daily tourist trains from Darjeeling to Ghum (India's highest railway station) are handled by vintage British-built B Class steam locomotives. Since 1999 the train has been a World Heritage Site as listed by UNESCO along with the Niligiri Mountain Railway as an extension to the original destination. Its the 2nd railway to have this honour bestowed upon it, after Semmering Railway of Austria.

A broad gauge railway connected Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Siliguri in 1878. Siliguri, at the base of the Himalayas, was connected to Darjeeling by a cart road (the present day Hill Cart Road) on which "Tonga services" (carriage services) were available. Franklin Prestage, an agent of Eastern Bengal Railway Company approached the government with a proposal of laying a steam tramway from Siliguri to Darjeeling. The proposal was accepted in 1879  by Sir Ashley Eden, the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal

Gillanders Arbuthnot & Co. constructed the railway. The stretch was opened on 23 August 1880, while the official opening of the line up to Darjeeling was on 4 July 1881. Despite natural calamities, such as an earthquake in 1897 and a major cyclone in 1899, the DHR continued to improve with new extension lines being built in response to growing passenger and freight traffic. However, the DHR started to face competition from bus services that started operating over the Hill Cart Road, offering a shorter journey time. During World War II, the DHR played a vital role transporting military personnel and supplies to the numerous camps around Ghum and Darjeeling.

After the independence of India, the DHR was absorbed into Indian Railways and became a part of the Northeast Frontier Railway zone in 1958. In 1962, the line was realigned at Siliguri and extended by nearly 6 km to New Jalpaiguri (NJP) to meet the new broad gauge line there.

Bhutan & Gambia released stamps on this railway line as part of the Famous Trains / Locomotives across the world.

India Post issued  a commemorative stamp on Centenary of  The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway on 18 December 1982.

- Kenneth Sequira, Dubai (UAE) : email -  kenneth.sequeira@hotmail.com

Also Read….The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and its Locomotives by Vikas Singh

New Stamps from Belarus and Ukraine..

 

 

50th anniversary of the Non-Aligned Movement

 

Date of Issue :  2 August , 2011

Here are some new issues from Belarus and Ukraine on a variety of themes.

 

 

 Fishes of Belarus reservoirs

Date of Issue : 18 August 2011

New Stamps from Ukraine

Railways

Date of Issue : 5 July 2011

Ukrainian Locomotives

 

Traditional Ukrainian farmstead

 

Date of Issue : 25 June 2011

The stamp illustrates Ukrainians with traditional rural domestic animals: cat, dog, piglet, caw and swallows building a nest.

 

Constitution of Ukraine. July 28, 1996. 15 years

Date of Issue : 17 June 2011

New stamps from Malaysia

 

 

To be issued on  22 June 1010

Hi ! Here are some new stamps to be issued by Malaysia on Malaysian Trains  on June 22, 2010. The stamps are very colorful with a nice Miniature sheet. Our thanks to Mr.  Pradip Jain of Patna  and  Mr Thevarayn Srinivasan of Klang Malaysia. This is all in this Post…Till Next Post ….Have a Nice Time !

 

To be issued on 22 June 2010

Club News

Great Australian Railway Journey….

Hi ! I am very busy these days with the inflow of visiting guests in this tourist season here. It is the peak time for tourists in Kullu & Manali. People come here to get a relief from scorching heat of the Plains. Now temperature is also increasing here as today when I went out had a feeling of heat that was uncomfortable. It is the weather that I feel here these days….Now coming to the philatelic world…… Here are some awesome stamps issued by Australia Post featuring Great Australian Journey.The stamps are very fascinating and are one of the most beautiful stamps issued on Train…Just fantastic !. A journey in train is always very pleasant….This can be experienced from these stamps too….giving a picturesque view of the surrounding. I just love these stamps and wish to get them in my collection ! This is all for this Post……Till Next Post…Have a Nice Time !

Date of Issue – 7 May 2010

Four of Australia's most scenic railway trips are being celebrated by Australia Post with the launch of a new stamp issue titled Great Australian Railway Journeys.

This issue features three 55c stamps - The Ghan, the Indian Pacific, the West Coast Wilderness Railway in Tasmania and one $2.10 international stamp - Kuranda Scenic Railway in Queensland.

The issue includes a limited edition (10,000) prestige first day cover featuring the Indian Pacific stamp and a reproduction version of the 1917 invitation to the official opening of the Trans-Australian Railway. A prestige booklet comprising mixed blocks of four stamps, minisheet and postcards will also be available.

Max Cards

Courtesy – Australia Post