External Links – Railway Philatelic sites,
Railway-related sites, and Philatelic sites

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Links (shown in blue) are listed below in the following groups:

  1. RAILWAY PHILATELY – mainly UK
  2. UK RAILWAYS which run RAILWAY LETTER SERVICES
  3. RAILWAY PHILATELY – Worldwide
  4. RAILWAYS & RAILWAY MUSEUMS
  5. PHILATELIC – General

Note: Each External link will open in its own new tab – to get back here just close that new tab.

1.  RAILWAY PHILATELY – mainly UK

  • Articles on Railway Themed Stamps for many countries
  • IB RedGuy’s Railway Stamp Archive: A library of British & Irish railway company stamp images
  • I.B RedGuy’s Fine Stamps: Specialist Dealer in Revenue stamps, also Railway Stamps, Cinderella Stamps, Telegraph Stamps, Savings Stamps, Local Post Stamps, Political Stamps, Overprints, Essays, Perfins, Documents, Poster Stamps, Duty and Fiscal Stamps
  • Paula Cant Stamps:    RPG member and dealer who specialises in Thematic issues (including trains) and new issues. Please mention the RPG when communicating.
  • Perfins on British railway company stamps   An excellent listing (entitled Newspaper & Parcel Delivery Perfins) of all known perfins on British railway company stamps. Published by the Perfin Society (2019). Authors: Jeff Turnbull & Maurice Harp.
  • Railway Thematic Stamps.  A useful page managed by Horst Brix
  • TPO  & Seapost Society.  Dedicated to collectors interested in Travelling Post Offices (TPO) both on Railways and on the High Seas (Seapost)

2.  UK RAILWAYS which run RAILWAY LETTER SERVICES

Several railways in the UK retain their railway letter service.  These include:

3.  RAILWAY PHILATELY – Worldwide

  •  Australia and New Zealand Revenue and Railway Fee Stamps Catalogue   This site is “exactly what it says on the tin”! If you want to know about Australian or New Zealand railway stamps, this site is a good place to start.
  • Casey Jones Railroad Unit.  Having over 200 members throughout the world, the Casey Jones Railroad Unit is the first (1950) of the American Topical Association Study Units, and, today, one of the largest. it covers cover everything rail-related on stamps – steam engines, diesel engines, rolling stock, rail bridges, streetcars, subways, trolleys, funiculars, cog railways, etc.
  • German Railway Philately.  The “Internationale Motivgruppe Eisenbahnwesen” e.V. was founded in 1963 and today has around 700 members in Europe and overseas countries.  Members are interested primarily in stamps, cancellations and postal stationery which reflect the railway theme.
  • Italian Railway-themed Stamps
  • (The)  Mobile Post Office Society    A Study Group for United States Highway Post Offices (includes Railway Post Offices)
  • Netherlands Railway Philately  A detailed illustrated site by Hans Vink, showing all aspects of Dutch railway stamps (Ordinary Stamps about Railways in The Netherlands, Dutch Railway Letter and Parcel Stamps, Dutch Regional Stamps about Railways, Dutch Overseas Territory Stamps about Railways, Dutch Cinderellas about Railways, Dutch Postal Stationary about Railways Dutch, Railway Stamps: Cancellations, Dutch Postage Meter Cancellations about Railways, Dutch Railway Stamps: First Day Covers, Dutch Maximum Cards about Railways, and Dutch Railways on non-Dutch Stamps)
  • (The US) Railway Mail Service    Tells the story of the US Postal Service and how it was linked to the US Railways. Website of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.
  • (Canadian) Railway Post Office Study Group Web site of a group specialising in Canadian Railway Postmarks.
  • Norwegian Railway Philately Railway, Steamship & Carrier stamps of Norway
  • Railway Stamps Online  Another Railway Stamp catalogue from Hans Vink (see Netherlands Railway Philately above. The GB section of this ‘world’ catalogue consists mainly of GB Preserved/Heritage railway stamps.
  • Swiss railways and TPOs.  Also includes links to Swiss railway cancellations

4.  RAILWAYS & RAILWAY MUSEUMS

  • Beamish Museum   Has a fully working passenger-carrying tramway.
  • History of Trolleys, Light Rails, Street Cars and Subways   Web page giving lots of information about the history of Trolleys, Trams & Streetcars, Light Railways & Subways, and Trolley & Streetcar Museums.
  • Irish Railway Stations Index  An A to Z of Irish railway Stations with many illustrations. Each station has multiple images, each clickable to enlarge them.
  • National Railway Museum
    As well as the vast range of rolling stock and other equipment, the NRM holds a major stock of Railway Stamps in the Search Engine (the Research and Library section) in the Museum at York. Of course, they also have the magnificent Locomotion museum at Shildon (Co. Durham) as well.
  • Night Mail   Watch this 23 minute long (black & white) film about the Night Mail, filmed in 1936. It includes extracts from WH Auden’s poem The Night Mail, with music by Benjamin Britten. Very atmospheric!
  • (The) Railway Magazine
  • Texas Railroads: Gives an extensive history of Texas railroads, plus much additional material for research
  • Travelling Post Office Mail Bag Drop Off and Pick Up  youtube video of the Apparatus in action

5.  PHILATELIC: General

  • British Postmark Society.  The British Postmark Society (BPS, founded in 1958) aims to promote and to co-ordinate the study and collection of British postal markings (particularly of the 20th and 21st centuries), and the means and mechanisms by which they are applied.
  •  British Thematic Association.  The British Thematic Association (BTA) was founded in 1984 with the objective To promote, encourage and assist the development of Thematic Philately.
  • Castleview Stamps. Edinburgh based company selling stamp supplies & accessories (albums, mounts, stock pages, tweezers etc), including Prinz, Stanley Gibbons, Compass, Lighthouse goods etc (also postcard, coin & banknote accessories).  If they don’t have what you want they will try to track it down for you. Tel.  0131 2580461.
  • (The) History of the Postmarks of the British Isles from 1840 to 1876.  John Hendy (1909). Downloadable pdf file. Contains reference to early TPOs Large (approx. 6 Gb) – may take a while to download. 
  • Irish Philatelic Circle
  • Post Mark Collectors Club    (U.S. orientated)
  • Postal History (David Shaw )   e-mail to: david@davidshawpostalhistory.com
  • Postal Mechanisation for Philatelists    A detailed description of postal mechanisation through the years – very interesting. Plenty of illustrations. Some page are slow to load, but be patient – it’s worth it. Each View section has multiple pages; simply scroll down to access these further pages..
  • Postal Museum   Formerly known as the British Postal Museum & Archive.
  • Postal Stationery Society Formed in 1992 to cater for collectors of postal stationery throughout the World, with the intention of furthering the study of postal stationery and developing its collecting into a more readily accepted branch of philately.
  • Poster Stamp Collectors Club 
  • Postmarks and Cancellations   An overview of Postmarks & Cancellations, hand-stamp devices, Date-stamp cancels, Killer cancels etc. Royal Philatelic Society London
  • The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPS), the oldest philatelic society in the world, was established in 1869 as The Philatelic Society, London.
  • Stamp Magazine 
  • Stanley Gibbons – Reputable Stamp Dealer of long standing – nor cheap, but has some rare railway post stamps.

 

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