Heritage Railway Stamps

The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway

This narrow guage line originally opened in 1903 betwee these two Welsh towns traveling along the River Banwy valley for about 10 miles. The main intention was transport of agricultural output in the Llanfair Caerwinion area to the main line at Welshpool, though passenger coaches were included in its trains. The 1923 grouping of the countrey's railways in 1923 put it under the control of the GWR, and the 1948 nationalisation transfered it to British Railways. The passenger service had ceased in 1931 and the line was deemed uneconomis and it closed in 1956.
It was rescued by volunteers, opening up bit by bit from 1963, station to station, from Llanfair. Its eastern terminus is on the edge of Welshpool; originally it ran between the houses, the engine ringing its bell, to its own station, The original sheep pens used are still there, next to the town's bypass. Much of the original station buildings are preserved and it still has its orignal two locommotives, The Countess and The Earl. Even in British Railways time they carried numbers 1 and 2.
This was the first heritage railwy I travelled on, mainly because it was closest to the Midlands where I lived. Now my son lives just 5 miles away and he has minimal interest in railways!
I thisnk this is a full set of the stamps issued from 1978 to 2003. Correct me if I am wrong


The Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway.The Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway.The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway

Edited by Steve - 25 October 2025 at 06:44

Thanks for posting these and saving me the task of scanning my slimmer collections of these railway post service stamps. Needless to say I gave traveled on both of them.

The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent was the brain child of Captain John Edwards Presgrave ("Jack") Howey and Count Louis Zborowski - a racing driver who was killed in a race incident before the project really got going. The locomotives are all 1/3 scale exact replicas of real locos, runing on 15 inch guage tracks. It runs along the Kent coast from Hythe to Dungeness; a vast acreage of pebbles and shingle jutting out into the English Channel. Film Director Derek Jarman's cottage (or shack) contrasts with the huge power plant there.

The Vale of Rheidol Railway runs from Aberystwyth to Devils Bridge and was used originally for mineral freight. Like the WLLR it was swallowed up by the GWR and then British Railways, with engines numbered 7,8 and 9. The journey takes you higher above the Rheidol Valley, when you can look down on Red Kites and Buzzards circling, looking for prey. Devils Bridge itsself featured heavily in the third series of Hinterland, BBc's Welsh noir classic series. My abiding memory though is going for a coffee there at the hotel. We sat in a corner of a vast ballroom alone. Just four tables in a corner with plasticised table cloths. I can see where Hinterland writers got their inspiration.