Not just for letters, either -- also for newspaper traffic:
This trio shows them being issued well into the 1970s by British Rail and its predecessor companies.
But they long predate Nationalisation: here are pre-war stamps issued by the London Midland & Scottish company (at the time, the world's biggest commercial undertaking):
And, to finish, an exquisite pair from my favourite railway company, the Midland & Great Northern:
And still on part of the sheet:
I love this ephemera, everyday disposable objects from another age.
3 comments:
When I used to work as a volunteer on the Talyllyn Railway near Aberdovey in mid Wales, we sold Railway Letters for a sum which included a stout white envelope with the Company's crest and a colour picture of one of the original steam locos ('Talyllyn' or 'Dolgoch'.
If people wanted to include a letter or postcard then they could do so, but many simply wrote their name and address on the back of the envelope and we took the money.
The 'Railway Letters' would be carried on the train to the main station at Tywyn Wharf where the railway letter stamps which had been stuck to one side of the envelope were franked.
An ordinary Royal Mail First Class stamp was then stuck in the usual place and the thing was consigned to the nearest post box.
Huh!
Did you also know that long before the railways did this, the canal companies operated their own letter, newspaper and parcels delivery services - line of route only though, from what I understand?
Nice post eh?
I remember when we lived in South Ruislip 52-55 that every receipt and bill had a British Mail stamp affixed - can't remember the amount for sure, but seems like they were thruppence -
thanks for another nostalgia trip -
Jon the anon
I was a Tram Conductor in Melbourne for many years. The Tramways Board issued their own stamps for the carriage of Newspapers to suburban newsagencies en route.
Instructions were that the papers were to be left on the footpath outside the shop by the conductor whose job was to deface the stamps upon delivery. The stamps came in many denominations, and like passengers, the newspapers were charged by the number of sections they went and the number of bundles of papers. This has all gone when the system was privatised.
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