RAILWAY STAMPS

In the final part of his guide to railway letter stamps, Frank J Wilson describes the many railways to have issued their own stamps since the 1950s, which give railway enthusiasts and stamp collectors plenty of designs to pursue

In the second part of our guide, we explore railway letter stamps from the 1950s to today

On 1 February 1891, an agreement between the Post Office and several railway companies came into force under which letters could be carried more quickly than the normal postal service. For this benefit the railways could charge an additional fee, payment being shown by a special adhesive stamp affixed to the bottom left corner of the envelope. As their successor British Railways continued to operate this service until 1984.

In 1957, the recently preserved Talyllyn Railway, realised that it was a signatory to the original 1891 agreement and as it had not been listed as being nationalised, it was still permitted to carry on the service. It issued a set of twelve 11d stamps in two sheetlets as a fund-raising exercise. These are some of the rarest of the railway letter stamps as in 1958 some of the stamps were overprinted 1/= due to an increase in postage rates. They only printed 1,500 sheets of which approximately 1,052 were surcharged in 1958 leaving only an approximate issue of 448 of each design.

The Talyllyn Railway made further issues in 1965 for the Railways’ Centenary and in 1966 a provisional surcharged issue when the fee was increased to 1s 1d.

The Festiniog Railway company found their copy of the 1891

Agreement with the Postmaster General for carrying railway letters and it was confirmed valid by the Postal HQ, London in 1968 and the Railway Letter service was reintroduced on 28 May 1969. The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway also issued a stamp on 1 July 1969.

Although British Rail has not issued any railway letter stamps, they were the owners of the Vale of Rheidol Railway and in 1970 issued four stamps for the carriage of mail over the Vale of Rheidol Railway only. Other issues followed.

A new agreement with the Post Office, superseding that of 1891, became operational in June 1974. It allowed railways who were members of the Association of Minor Railway Companies to apply to operate a railway letter service. It also gave the Association authority to fix rates. An additional fee was also to be paid for transfer of letters to B.R. until that ceased in 1984.

Since that time, many other preserved railways have issued stamps including the North Yorkshire Moors

Railway, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, Bluebell Railway, and the Nene Valley Railway to name just a few.

The stamps mostly show personalities, locomotives and rolling stock associated with their railways. Amongst the popular images are those of Thomas the Tank Engine and the Flying Scotsman. Other railways have also issued letter stamps. These include the Llechwedd Slate Caverns which issued stamps for use on their Incline railway, the Llanberis Lake Railway, and the Snowdon Mountain Railway. The Llechwedd Slate Caverns even issued stamps in 1979 commemorating Alice in Wonderland.

Although many railways have stopped issuing railway letter stamps there are four railways that still issue stamps on a regular basis. These are the Festiniog Railway, Nene Valley Railway, and the Talyllyn Railway. Also, the Mid-suffolk Light Railway which was not a signatory to the Agreements.

The Isle of Man Railway, the Manx Electric Railway, and the Snaefell Mountain Railway occasionally have an issue of stamps. However, they do not offer a regular railway letter service as the stamps are only used on special occasions.

There have been various issues from railways that purport to be railway letter stamps but are generally only issued for fund raising and not for a letter service. In recent years these have included the Bodmin and Wenford Railway and the East Somerset Railway.

For a number of years, the Bagley Wood Railway issued many railway letter fee stamps, but this was a garden railway and although popular with collectors did not offer a railway letter service.

One of the latest issues is from the Festiniog Railway and it commemorated the 100th birthday, on the 16 April 2020, of Alan Pegler, their founder pictured alongside the Flying Scotsman.

Full details of all the stamps issued by the many railways and details of those that were only issued for fund raising or were bogus can be found in the Great Britain & Ireland Railway Letter Stamps handbook and catalogue published by the Railway Philatelic Group. New issues are also listed in their quarterly journal Railway Philately. Full details are to be found at www.railwayphilatelicgroup.co.uk