(RCSD) India~locomotives on stamps.

Ponder this.... when a kid yells to his parents
"The train is coming!"
He/she is actually referring to the line of carriages
not the locomotive....Rod.



Acknowledgement: Mr. Dhirubhai Mehta.

LOCOMOTIVES ON STAMPS

The Indian Postal Department released on May 15 1976
a set of four multicolour stamps with locomotives as a theme,
in the denominations of 25, 50, 100 and 200 paise.

In Bombay, the stamps were released at the Indo-American
Society at a very simple ceremony in which Mr. V. E.
Arunachalam, P.M.G.; Mr. Ranganathan, general manager,
Western Railway and philatelists participated. An exhibition of
railway stamps was arranged by Mr. K. D. Dinshah.

Indigenous manufacture of locomotives was started on a small
scale in the Railway Workshop at Jamalpur in 1889 and in the
Ajmer Workshop in 1895. In the post-independence period, the
first steam locomotive manufacturing unit was set up at
Chittaranjan in 1950 and till 1972, 2,351 steam locomotives
were manufactured.

Chittaranjan unit started manufacture of electric locomotives in
1961. The Diesel Locomotive Works was started at Varanasi in
January 1964. The railways in India have a fleet of 8,682 steam
locomotives, 1,702 diesel and 729 electric locomotives.

The stamps depict
Locomotive WDM2 (1963) on 25 paise,
F/l Metre Gauge Locomotive (1895) on 50 paise
This was the most widely used engine on railways before
independence. The engine depicted on the stamp was
manufactured in Ajmer in 1895.
WP-1 engine Broad Gauge Locomotive (1963) on 100 paise -
This is the standard post-ward broad-gauge locomotive. In
1963 manufacture of this type of engine was started at
Chitaranjan Locomotive Works; and
Locomotive GIF No. 1 (1853) on 200 paise stamp. This is
representative of the earliest engine employed in India. This
engine entered service in 1853 to operate the first public train
service introduced on April 16, 1853 between Bombay and
Thana.

All the stamps are horizontal in format, 50 in a sheet, printed
on unwatermarked adhesive coated paper by photogravure
process at the India Security Press.
The set of four stamps was originally scheduled for issue on
April 2 1976. It was changed to 16 April 1976 to coincide
perhaps with the date - April 16, 1853 when the railways
were first put to commercial use, when a train with invitees left
Bombay to Thana,a distance of 12 miles. According to the
publicity literature, locomotives were in use in India earlier. On
December 22, 1851, a small locomotive named "Thompson"
started hauling some wagons during the construction of Solani
Aqueduct near Roorkee.

RAILWAYS AND STAMPS
To commemorate the centenary of the inauguration of the
railways in India which improved the means of
communications for trade, commerce and the communications,
a 2As grey postage stamp was issued on April 16, 1953. The
stamp had a traditional design of the old and the new. A special
first day cancellation was used which had a design - a circle
showing railway track. Since the stamp was grey in colour, the
black ink to deface the stamp was not found satisfactory and
therefore at different places different colour inks - purple,
green and red were used. Black ink was also used at some
places. In 1953, India Railways held an extensive Centenary
Exhibition in New Delhi when the Railway Centenary P.O.
used a special cancellation - circular in design reading
"Railway Centenary Exhibition 1853-1953."
The design of two engines depicted on the Railway centenary
stamp was based on the photograph supplied by the Indian P. &
T. Dept. The engine depicted on the left is the old and the one
on the right "W.P. class engine, put on line in 1945-50."


India is credited with a few stamps with railways as a theme or
part of the design. The 4As value on the "Transport" definitive
of 1937 depicted a mail train. A steam engine hauling the train
running a great "speed" is shown. This stamp is also based on a
photograph supplied by the P. & T. Dept. viz., "E.7 Imperial
Indian Mail.'"

The 1954 stamp centenary issue depicted the Railway/the
railway engine on the stamp as the carrier of mail. The theme
for the stamp centenary was "modes of carriage of mail," and
the 4 As value depicted a train as a means of transport with the
cycle rider, the railway and the airplane. It depicted an engine
hauled train as a part of the design. The eight anna
denomination in the five year plan (Jan. 1955) depicted a steam
locomotive in the Chitranjan Locomotive Works.

The lOp. denomination in the 1965-68 definitive had an
electric engine as the design of the stamp. It depicted an electric
locomotive hauling a train. Here also the design was based on a
photograph supplied by the P. & T. Directorate.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the International Railways
Union, a 20p. multicolour stamp was issued depicting the
completed track crossing based on a poster design.
The locomotive stamps bearing the RAILWAY NILAYAM
P.O. pictorial cancellation was provided by the Sub-Postmaster,
Rail Nilayam Post Office, Seconderabad 500371. COPEX-75
held in 1975 had a special cancellation depicting the railway
engine.

Stamps of 1937-1953-1955-1972-1976
http://cjoint.com/data/iodgLIvHYh.htm

On Aug 21, 9:37 am, Sir F. A. Rien wrote:
Rod found these unused words:

EG: it's the complete grouping, loco + cars (freight, mixed or passenger)!

I stand corrected.

In the United Kingdom Section 83(1)
of the Railways Act 1993 defines "train" as follows:

a) two or more items of rolling stock coupled together,
at least one of which is a locomotive; or

b) a locomotive not coupled to any other rolling stock.

This is a legal interpretaion as any object capable of self-propulsion
on the track.However in railway terminology a train is the revenue-
earning rake of rolling stock whether or not a locomotive is attached
- usually when a locomotive is not attached it regers specifically to
a train of continuously braked stock as these are (semi)-permanently
coupled together.

Malcolm