Sunday 9 January 2011

Liverpool & Manchester Railway

Viridian's Postcards blog is hosting a celebration of stamps the "small works of art" by the start of a new Sunday stamps meme.  To share that love go here.

I thought I would start with one of my favourite GB sets of stamps issued in 1980 as a 5 se-tenant set, to celebrate the anniversary of the opening of  the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830.  To appreciate the wonderful detail click on the stamps to enlarge. The artist was David Gentleman, who has had a huge influence on British stamp design over the years, and created 103 different issues from 1962-2000.

The stamps take us on a journey and passes various points of interest. The railway is pulled by
  • Stephenson's Rocket approaching the Moorish Arch in Liverpool. (In 1829 the Stephensons had run this at the famous Rainhill Trials competition to choose the best design of locomotive for the railway company). 
  • The 1st and 2nd class carriages pass through the Olive Mount Cutting (one of the major problems that George Stephenson had to overcome on the line, rock had to be blasted out along a 2 mile cutting)
  • 3rd Class carriage lives up to the nickname of 'cattle trucks' and is followed by a sheep truck crossing Chat Moss (a peat bog that almost threatened the completion of the railway until Stephenson 'floated' the line across on wood and stone foundations)
  • Horsebox and Carriage Truck near the Bridgewater Canal. (Two things the railway would replace as a mode of transport for goods and people)
  • Goods Truck and Mail Coach at Manchester (the chimneys of the industrial revolution in the background)
Royal Mail has continued to celebrate the railway and this year will be no different when they will be issuing classic locomotives stamps next month.

8 comments:

PostMuse said...

This is a lovely se-tenant!

Is vintage postage allowable as current postage in the UK? If so, is it uncommon?

viridian said...

Great stamps! I have no idea what a se-tenant is, but this I guess is a good example. :-)

In the USA vintage stamps that are unused can be used on current mail. Not sure about the UK.

Postcardy said...

That's a great subject for se-tenant stamps. I'm glad you included all the descriptions and history in your post.

Deborah said...

Lovely stamps.

Joy said...

Yes PostMuse, not all stamps, but we can use those issued post 1971 which is when the coinage went decimal. It is uncommon and only tends to be collectors or philately/postcard type companies with a stock. The Royal Mail have a cut off date for selling their commemoratives, not sure how long for but seems to be a couple of years or so.

Dorincard said...

Great post, with a superb set of se-tenant train stamps! :)

Ian - Norvic said...

@Joy The Basic rule is that special stamps are on sale at the Philatelic Bureau for 12 months after issue. But since RM started issuing 'series' they are on sale for at least 12 months after the last in the sereis.

Thus the current Kings and Queens, which started in 2008 will carry on probably to 2012 + 1 year. The pre-Olympics which started in 2009 will be at least to 2012 + 1 year.

Joy said...

Thanks for the explanation Ian, it all makes sense to me now, fascinating.