Norvic Philatelics

Classic Locomotives - preserved steam railways - 6 stamps and a Miniature Sheet

Royal Mail continues the transport series that began with Buses in 2001, Airliners in May 2002 and Transports of Delight (toys) in September 2003, with a set of six stamps featuring steam locomotives. The set also marks the 200th anniversary of the first journey by a steam locomotive, Trevithick's Penydarren locomotive, which took place in February 1804 in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales.

The stamps in more detail [The railways in more detail]

20p - Dolgoch 0-4-0T. Dolgoch was the first locomotive to pull a passenger train on a heritage railway in the UK and possibly, the world. The stamp shows it on the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway in North Wales.

28p - CR 439 0-4-4. This stamp features the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway.

E Class - GCR 8K 2-8-0. This stamp has the Great Central Railway 2.8.0 express goods locomotive in British Railways livery with a rake of 'windcutter' wagons. A typical freight train of the 1950s.

42p - GWR Manor 4-6-0. This stamp features the Great Western Manor Class 'Bradley Manor' with a train of Great Western Railway carriages approaching Victoria Bridge over the River Severn. This line is now operated as the Severn Valley Railway.

47p - SR West Country 4-6-2. This stamp shows the 'air smoothed' West Country class 'Blackmoor Vale' at Horsted Keynes Station. This class of locomotive is famous for pulling 'The Golden Arrow' and 'Bournemouth Belle' Pullman trains in the 1950s and early 60s. The Bluebell Line is one of Britain's earliest preserved railways.

68p - BR Standard 4 2-6-4T. This stamp shows a BR Standard Class locomotive of the 1950s leaving Haworth Station, on the line now operated by the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway. This loco was one of 999 engines built to British Railway designs based on the best practices of the 'Big Four' railway companies.

Technical details:
These stamps are designed by Roundel (Mike Denny) from photographs by John Wildgoose.
The stamps are litho-printed by De La Rue Security Print, perforated 14½ x 14½. The stamps are printed in sheets of 24 and 48. Post Office branches will have sheets of 24; the Philatelic Bureau and Post Offices with philatelic counters will have sheets of 48. The sheet of 24 x 20p stamps is shown, together with an enlarged view of the top and lower right hand corners showing Railway Company logos and 'steam puff' colour dots respectively.

Miniature sheet

A miniature sheet containing all six stamps will be issued on the same day - shown on FDC below.

All images are taken from Royal Mail's Postmark Bulletin and Philatelic Bulletin, and are Copyright 2003 by Royal Mail Group.

Special First Day of Issue Postmarks

These postmarks were available for the date of issue and all should be available on first day covers. However some will be more plentiful than others, and some may only be available on specific 'official covers', with a very few on PO fdcs in collections. It may be many years before these appear on the resale market.

Norvic Exclusive First Day Covers

We produced two limited edition FDCs for this issue, one for the set of 6 stamps and one for the miniature sheet, and some maximum cards. The FDCs, cards and stamps can be ordered from our online shop.

This page updated 14 February 2004. [17.1.05]