The Rail Philatelist

News & Notes Back Issues
| Oct. 1996 | Nov. 1996 | Dec. 1996 |
| Jan. 1997 | Feb. 1997 | Mar. 1997 | Apr. 1997 | May 1997 | June 1997 |
| July 1997 | Aug. 1997 | Sept. 1997 | Oct. 1997 | Nov. 1997 | Dec. 1997 |
| Jan. 1998 | Feb. 1998 | Mar. 1998 | Apr. 1998 | May 1998 | June 1998 |
| July 1998 | Aug. 1998 | Sept. 1998 | Oct. 1998 | Nov. 1998 | Dec. 1998 |
| Jan. 1999 | Feb. 1999 | Mar. 1999 | Apr. 1999 | May 1999 | June 1999 |
| July 1999 | Aug. 1999 | Sept. 1999 | Oct. 1999 | Nov. 1999 | Dec. 1999 |
| Jan. 2000 | Feb. 2000 | Mar. 2000 | Apr. 2000 | May 2000 | June 2000 |
| July 2000 | Aug. 2000 | Sept. 2000 | Oct. 2000 | Nov. 2000 | Dec. 2000 |
| Jan. 2001| Feb. 2001 | Mar. 2001 | Apr. 2001 | May. 2001 | June. 2001 |
| July 2001 | Aug. 2001

AL'S RAILINGS-

NEWS & NOTES ON RAILWAY PHILATELY

Volume 6 Number 10 PRICE $1.00 (10 ISSUES FOR $8.00) September 1, 2001

Dear Fellow Rail Philatelist:

Travel to Chicago for the APS show and Baltimore for a day at BALPEX on my way to my nephew's wedding in Virginia Beach, VA put me even further behind than usual. But the trips were worth it - I bought quite a bit at both shows even though I didn't sell enough in Chicago to break even. I did get to meet and visit with several friends and acquaintances at both shows as well as having a mini-family reunion at the wedding (two of three sons and their wives were there as well as my Mother-in-Law and half my wife's siblings and their families). I don't listen to the radio or TV during the day while working, so when a neighbor called on that dreadful Tuesday, 9/11, with the devastating news about the dastardly terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, DC, I turned on the TV and became mesmerized by the coverage. Somehow, completing train stamp lists at a critical time like this seemed of little importance. Our thoughts and prayers are ever with the victims of this horrendous tragedy and their families. But life must go on albeit with heavy heart so here, finally, are the T-Z lists. My apologies for the prolonged delay.

ARRRGH! NEW ISSUES AGAIN!: Now even France has joined the trash parade! I saw a miniature sheet offered on ebay that was supposed to be French but it didn't look like anything I'd seen from France before so I had to bid on it. Sure enough, it is a sheet of ten different train stamps issued by France but not up to their usual design and printing standards. I received them a few days later from a new issue source along with a $20.00 hardbound children's book with mounts and spaces for the complete sheet and for each of the ten stamps from it on pages with colorful drawings and descriptions of each of the featured trains. For the Belgica 2001 stamp show in June, New Zealand reissued a sheet of 10 (two with train interest, originally Scott #1695) but with a changed border. Probably better than an overprint but still totally unnecessary. Will it continue to get worse?

NATIONAL STAMP DEALERS ASSOCIATION: As a charter member of the National Stamp Dealers Association (NSDA), I am always eager to attend the annual meeting/cocktail party usually in conjunction with the annual APS Stampshow. Held this year at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago, the major news was that NSDA is now the recognized US member of the International Federation of Stamp Dealers Associations (IFSDA) supplanting the American Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA), which withdrew a couple years ago. Now an international organization, NSDA was started by several west coast dealers a few years ago as an alternative to the ASDA, whose focus seemed to have narrowed to promoting New York mega-shows and little else. NSDA dealers abide by a rigorous Code of Ethics (as does the ASDA). I believe the minimal membership costs are more than returned in the fellowship and cooperation among member dealers. Thus I will belatedly but proudly display the NSDA logo on my future newsletters and my website.

ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER: Not off to a good start - email should be to trainstamps@worldnet.att.net. Or just trainstamps@att.net. My apologies for the misinformation. Emailing the entire newsletter and/or pricelists may be a bit cumbersome since the files may be large. Therefore those who indicate they want an electronic version will receive an email announcing when the newsletter and those other pages that have been updated are available on my web page at www.railphilatelist.com . They can then access the web page to read the updated pages and download any of them as appropriate.

COLOMBIA TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM: This brief paragraph has been bumped several times for lack of space, so I finally forced it in. Jose Pardo, Director of the Colombian Transportation Museum (Museo Nacional de Transporte) sent me a brochure with all the details of his museum with one of his orders then followed it up with two photos, one of a beautiful 4-8-0 steam loco built by Baldwin in 1928 (one of four steam locos on site) and the other of the refinery on the extensive HO layout in the museum. If my translation from the brochure is close, the model railroad recreates the agriculture and industry of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the US during the 1950s. It is huge, covering 5600 square feet (with claims of being one of the largest in the world), and has 150 locomotives and 2000 freight and passenger cars. The museum also contains a philatelic exhibit featuring various modes of transport. I suggest you pay them a visit if you get that far South. The museum is near the Alfonso Bonilla Aragon Airport, Cali, Colombia. It contains a cafeteria and souvenir shop in addition to all the cars, airplanes and locomotives on display so you could probably spend most of a day there. The museum has also commissioned 12 beautiful oil paintings of Colombian steam locomotives and will arrange with the mail administration to issue 12 stamps from the paintings. I certainly look forward to seeing them! And thank you, Jose!

AUGUST TRAVEL: I missed the Ringling Brothers Circus train's visit to Colorado Springs because of my show travels, but saw plenty of other trains. I had a string of four stamp shows the last part of August, first part of September: the Colorado Stamp Bonanza in Denver, APS Stampshow 2001 in Chicago, BALPEX in Baltimore, MD and APEX in Aurora, CO (the latter two I attended just one day each as a buyer). I was able to buy quite a bit of material for these lists and inventory at all four shows, so in that sense they were all good, but sales were disappointing at both August shows. Rather than taking I-25 home from the Denver show, I went west on Hampden Ave. both Friday and Saturday evenings and was rewarded not only with several lite-rail trains on the new southwest extension but also several coal trains stacked up waiting to go south. Friday night I actually saw a set of pusher locos couple onto a coal train at "Big Lift", site of a former Santa Fe TOFC yard now used for car storage and as the helper loco staging area for the push up to Palmer Lake. There are usually two pairs of helper locos there with one or two on the mainline pushing or returning from a push. Saturday evening I also passed a local near "Big Lift" with three locos still in Denver & Rio Grande livery on a siding.

The best part about flying into or out of Chicago as I did on the way to Baltimore is the opportunity to see two or three different huge rail yards from the air - always impressive but too short a glimpse to take in all the details. Makes me wish for an aerial tour in a helicopter. I was pleased to find a new lite-rail station in Hunt Valley where BALPEX was held. I didn't get to ride it downtown as planned for Friday night but Sue and Emily (wife of one of my train stamp friends) did. Because of the B&O tunnel fire in downtown Baltimore caused by a CSX train derailment July 18 that closed the area for several days, the route from Mt. Royal Station down Howard St. to the Camden Yard Station was still closed and they had to transfer to buses for that part of the trip. That made the trip more time consuming than we wanted to deal with in the rain Friday evening. The drive to Virginia Beach Saturday morning yielded a view of the Metro yards on the south side of the DC area and a WB CSX local with eight steel coil cars at Newport News. Didn't see anything in the dark on the drive back to Baltimore Sunday night nor from the Baltimore-Denver flight Monday morning.

There were three coal trains lined up near Castle Rock when I drove to Aurora for APEX Sept. 8 after a brief snow storm, but only a set of NB pushers and the SB grain train they had helped to Palmer Lake on the way home. The Chicago trip with stops at North Platte, NE and Rochelle, IL was a train watchers delight so I'll save that for next month when I have more space.

RAIL FACTS AND FEATS: Use of the word "railway" was first recorded in 1681 at Pensnett, Great Britain about 2 1/2 miles northeast of Stourbridge, in Staffordshire (now West Midlands). "Railroad" was first used at Rowton on the Tarbatch Dingle line near Coalport on the River Severn, Shropshire in 1702. The two words were then used indiscriminately until about 1850 after which "railway" became standard in Great Britain while "railroad" became standard in North America.

RAIL THOUGHT OF THE MONTH: "Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." Will Rogers, American Humorist (He never met an aphorism he didn't like!)

STAMP OF THE MONTH: The 1949 Universal Postal Union omnibus sets issued by 63 members of the British Commonwealth have a stylized steam locomotive on the lowest value of the sets of four as represented by Trinidad & Tobago #66. The "train" is not especially attractive, but they are certainly worth inclusion in your collection. Some seek all 63 while others settle for just one example of the common design. Most are of minimal cost but some such as those from Pitcairn Island, Hong Kong and the Falklands Islands & Dependencies are pricey. Singles are often difficult to find but the complete sets are quite common. Note that several other sets included in the Scott Catalog "Common Design" listings do not contain the train stamp: New Hebrides, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia and Great Britain among others.

May all your signals be green,

 

AL PETERSON

AL PETERSON

THE RAIL PHILATELIST

P. O. BOX 25505

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80936

1-800-807-RAIL access code RR or 719-591-2341

http://www.railphilatelist.com/ or e-mail railphilatelist@aol.com

JOIN THE CASEY JONES RAILROAD UNIT OF THE AMERICAN TOPICAL ASSOCIATION
Dues $8.00. Contact Oliver Atchison, PO Box 31631, San Francisco, CA 94131