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Railway Parcel and Letter Stamps are stamps issued by a railway to show payment of the fee for transport of
parcels and newspapers between railway stations.
Parcel and letter services used to be a popular practice among railways
all over the world, but stamps were used in relatively few. The stamps were
usually affixed to a waybill, rather than to the item being shipped, and often retained by the railway
and later destroyed, so many were not easily available to collectors.
Material to be carried on trains usually had to be delivered to the originating
station and collected from the receiving one, though some railway companies offered delivery on the receiving end for an
additional fee.
Many of these stamps had images of rail vehicles on them, so they are popular among
rail stamp collectors. My goal here is to show a representative sample of the ones with trains, and to
give general information about what is available overall.
I know of no country where railroads still use railway parcels stamps or
railway letter stamps apart from concoctions for tourists issued in the UK and in Australia.
Below is a table of the countries I know of whose railroads issued Railway Stamps that show
trains or rail vehicles, plus examples from a few other countries, somewhat
arbitrarily chosen, with links to the pages
where I discuss them and give examples. Below that table is a list of the printed
references I used in compiling these pages. Web references are cited in context.
IMPORTANT NOTE: These pages are a work-in-progress, subject to revision as I learn more.
I have done the best I could to be accurate, but most of what I know about this area is
from books, articles, and web pages, some of which disagree with each other, so I am sure there are
errors here. If you find any, please let me know, so I can correct them. Send
to
My heartfelt thanks to Anthony M. Goodbody, long-time bulwark of the
Railway Philatelic Group of the UK (RPG),
and author of many books, articles, and monographs about things rail philatelic, for his patience and
generosity in helping me to understand this area better.
Most of the following books are out of print, but copies may be available from
philatelic literature dealers, or through auctions such as those run by the RPG.
The Western Philatelic Library
in Sunnyvale, CA often has duplicate material to sell.
Katalog over Danmark Jernbanefrimaerker, 1865-1965, by Reinhold Jensen & P. Thomassen;
pub. Arhus, 1966
The Railway Parcel Stamps of Finland, by Kaj Hellman & Bjorn-Eric Saarinen;
pub. Oy Kaj Hellman Ltd, 1993
The Railroad Parcel Stamps of Germany, by Dusterbehn and Barr;
pub. Barr, 1998
The Railway and Airway Letter Stamps of the British Isles, 1891-1971,
by Capt. H.T. Jackson, F.R.P.S., L.;
pub. Harry Hayes, 1979
The Railway Letter Stamps of Great Britain & Ireland, 1891-1947,
by Roger de Lacy-Spencer; pub Moorside Publishing Ltd, November, 2000
Priced catalogue of British Colonial Adhesive Revenue, Telegraph, and Railway Stamps, 1908;
compiled by A.B. Kay, pub. Bridger & Kay, London
Great Britain & Ireland Railway Letter Stamps, 1957-1998, by Neill Oakley;
pub. Railway Philatelic Group of the UK
New Zealand Railway Charges Stamps: Design and Printing, by J.W. Brodie;
pub. Royal Philatelic Society of New Zealand (Inc.), 1983
New Zealand Cinderellas Catalogue - 2002, Ed. Dave Heslop;
pub. David Holmes Philatelist Ltd and Classic Stamps Ltd, March, 2002
Norwegian Railway and Steamship Parcel Stamps, by Frederick A. Brofos;
pub. The Scandinavian Collectors Club, 1964
Railway Stamps of South Africa, by H.S. Hagen and S.P. Naylor;
pub. The Philatelic Federation of Southern Africa, 1985
Transvaal Railway Stamps and Travelling Post Offices, by Alan R. Drysdall;
pub. James Bendon, Ltd., 1997
Still more references on this topic can be found on this Bibliography page of the RPG:
http://geocities.com/tonygoodbody/c.htm
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Revised -- 12/12/2004