London Underground 150th Anniversary - new Great Britain stamps, 9 January 2013

Norvic Philatelics - GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks

150th Anniversary of London Underground - 9 January 2013

Royal Mail celebrates the start of its 2013 stamp programme with ten new stamps to mark the 150th anniversary of the London Underground – the oldest underground railway network in the world.

The stamps will be issued on 9 January – exactly 150 years after the opening in 1863 of the first part of what was to become London’s Underground, the steam-driven Metropolitan Railway running between Paddington Station and Farringdon Street via Kings Cross.

2nd class London Underground Stamp Metropolitan railway.

2nd class London Underground stamp - tunnel construction.

1st class London Unerground stamp - Edwardian Commuters.

1st class London Underground stamp - Boston Manor Station.

£1-28 London Underground stamp showing 1930s rolling stock.

£1-28 London Underground stamp: Canary Wharf Station.

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2nd class - the Metropolitan Railway; railway tunnelling

1st class - Edwardian commuters; Piccadilly Line’s Boston Manor Station

£1.28 - Classic rolling stock in 1938; Canary Wharf Station 1999

London Undergroudn 150 Years miniature sheet of 4 stamp showing railway posters.

The stamps in the miniature sheet show railway advertising posters.

The values are 1st class, 77p, 87p & £1.28

Larger images of individual stamps can be seen on our blog.

Retail booklet of 6 stamps including London Underground.

The retail booklet of 6 stamps includes the new 1st class red Machin definitive, expected to have source code MCND, and two 1st class stamps from the London Underground set.

It seems a pity that both show the Boston Manor station, rather than one showing the Edwardian Commuters. The special stamps are against a background showing part of Harry Beck's London Underground map.

In the first half of the 19th century a number of railway termini were built in London, but the only way to connect them was by road - and journey times by horse drawn cab through London’s congested streets were extremely time-consuming. The solution was an underground railway. Initially operated by private railway companies, the network expanded to the suburbs. In 1890 the first deep level, electrically operated railway was opened between Stockwell and the city. The new deep cut tunnels earned the network the nickname of ‘the Tube’, which has stuck ever since. Today the tube covers 402 kilometres of track, serves 270 stations and carries 1.2 billion passengers per year.

Aside from being the world’s first urban metro system London Underground has a significant design heritage both in terms of its rolling stock and station architecture, the graphic design of its posters and Harry Beck’s iconic tube map – and updated version of which was featured in 2009’s British Design Classics issue. The six sheet stamps designed by Hat-Trick Design show a timeline of the development of the London Underground from the first steam driven Metropolitan Line service to the most modern Jubilee Line Station, Canary Wharf, designed by Sir Norman Foster. The iconography of the issue includes illustration and photography that show both construction, stations and rolling stock. Unifying the issue is the timeline across the lower quarter of the stamps using different livery colours taken from London Underground Lines.

The Miniature Sheet focuses on the design heritage of London Underground Posters. Designed by NB Studios the four stamps use the long format to each show three iconic London Underground posters. Many poster designers used for London Underground also produced iconic work for the Post Office; such as Tom Eckersley, Edward McKnight-Kauffer and Abram Games.

The stamps in detail

2nd Class - 1863 Metropolitan Railway Opens
A contemporary lithograph of a steam locomotive on the Metropolitan line near Paddington Station.

2nd Class – 1898 Tunnelling Below London Streets
Railway construction workers, known as Navvies, shown excavating a ‘deep cut’ tube tunnel.

1st Class – 1911 Commute from the Suburbs
A carriage of Edwardian ladies and gentlemen illustrated on their commute to work from the suburbs.

1st Class – 1934 Boston Manor Art Deco Station
Suburban expansion of the Piccadilly Lines in the 1920s and 30s led to the construction of many iconic art deco stations.

£1.28 – 1938 Classic Rolling Stock
The classic trains introduced on the tube’s deep cut lines in 1938 became a London icon.

£1.28 – 1999 Jubilee Line at Canary Wharf
Designed by Sir Norman Foster Canary Wharf Station is one of the most recent additions to the Underground network.

1st Class London Underground Posters
Reproductions of three classic London Underground Posters: Golders Green (1908) by an unknown artist 1908; By Underground to fresh air (1915) by Maxwell Armfield; Summer Sales (1925) by Mary Koop.

77p London Underground Posters
Reproductions of three classic London Underground Posters: For the Zoo (1921) by Charles Paine; Power (1931) by Edward McKnight-Kauffer and The seen (1948) by James Fitton.

87p London Underground Posters
Reproductions of three classic London Underground Posters: A train every 90 seconds (1937) by Abram Games; Thanks to the Underground (1935) by Zero (Hans Schleger) and Cut travelling time, Victoria Line (1969) by Tom Eckersley.

£1.28 London Underground Posters
Reproductions of three classic London Underground Posters: The London Transport Collection (1975) by Tom Eckersley; London Zoo (1976) by Abram Games and The Tate Gallery by Tube (1987) by David Booth (Fine White Line Design).

Technical details:
The 35 mm square stamps were designed by Hat Trick Design, perf 14½. The 183 x 74mm Miniature Sheet was designed by NB Solutions The stamps 60 x 30mm stamps are perf 14½, Both the stamp set and the MS are printed by Cartor Security Printing, Meaucé, France, in lithography. We expect that the booklet will be printed by Walsall Security Printers. All stamp images © Transport for London and Royal Mail ©2013.

Products issued - we will be stocking the booklet only and will prepare some FDCs for this new Machin definitive.

Set of 6 stamps, miniature sheet, retail booklet
Presentation Pack containing set and miniature sheet
Set of 11 stamp cards
Two First Day Covers
Coin Cover

Special first day of issue postmarks will be shown here. These cannot be obtained the date of issue; more may be added. Not to scale.


Ref FD1302TH Official Bureau postmark	Ref FD1302PL London W2 official first day of issue postmark	Ref FD1302NP London non-pictorial official first day of issue postmark (should be W2)	Ref L12767 Celebrating 150 Years of London Underground, London	Ref L12772 London Underground, London

Ref L12768 150th Anniversary, London Underground, GBFDC Association, Tower Hill, London	Ref L12772 London Underground, Wellington Street, London	Ref L12769 London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza, London	Ref L12770 London Underground 150, Farringdon, London EC1	Ref L12771 London Underground 150, Paddington, London W2

Ref L12775 London Underground, London EC	Ref L12774 London Underground, London W7	Ref L12776 London Underground, London W2	Ref M12779 London Underground, Liverpool Street, Birmingham

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This page updated 2 January 2013 - number for Birmingham changed.

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