Sunday, May 8, 2011

Anniversary of Iraqi Railways, Iraq

Well, im REALLY happy that today's Sunday Stamps topic is Transportation! This of course includes planes, trains, cars, trams....but even though I can say I have stamps of each of these, it would feel extremely illogical that I post something NOT regarding trains....I mean, how can I neglect my favourite topic! Thanks so much to Viridan for choosing this subject. To see what others have come up with, please visit Viridian's blog by clicking on this big 'button' below:



Well, while looking at my train stamps, I was wondering which ones should I choose for today...I really wanted for it to be something special, and eventually the final choice fell on this amazing Iraqi issue...so not only that the stamps are amazing, but they come from such a rare country that Im extremely happy and proud to have them in my possession (the WHOLE set!!) and all that is thanks to dear Joey from Norway!

The stamps were issued in 2010, commemorating the Anniversary of the Iraqi Railways.
We have three stamps issued, face valued of 750, 500 and 250 dinars ( I guess that apart from doing a lousy scan, I put the stamps in a reverse order, but I hope you dont mind it so much). The funny thing about the dinars is that it ALWAYS reminds me of Yugoslavia, coz the dinar was the currency we used back then...so it is kind of funny to find this currency in other countries too...\
The date of issue is 25 January 2010 and the size of the stamps is 50 x 40 mm.....perforation is 13 x 13


and apart from the three great stamps, the issue contains one FABULOUS mini sheet! I feel for this ever since I saw it long time ago, and I still cant believe it that it is actually mine right now!
It is imperforated and its size is 80 x 80 mm, with a face value of 1000 IQD.




Well, a few words about the Iraqi Railways.... The Iraqi Republic Railways Company (IRR), founded in 1905 (Im honestly confused about the anniversary here, coz ive come across several different data). It runs over approximately 1,900 kilometres of standard gauge track and runs from Rabiya in the north southward through Mosul, Bayji and Baghdad to end at Basra, with a number of branch lines.
The first section of railway in what was then the Ottoman Empire province of Mesopotamia was a 123 kilometres length of the Baghdad Railway between that city & Samarra opened in 1914.
(So it seem like the anniversary is something in-between.)
IRR uses Soviet-style SA3 automatic couplers. In order to allow interchange with CFS and Turkish State Railways which both use screw couplers, IRR locomotives and most wagons are equipped with screw couplings and buffers. In Iraqi service the buffers do not make contact and the screw couplings hang down unattached.

Have a great Sunday everyone, and let me know if you've had the chance so far to travel with IRR or if you're gonna do it so in the future :)

9 comments:

  1. Four tremendous stamps, especially the 0ne 1t 1000 dinars. I hadnot heard anything about Iraq railways before so thanks for the information.

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  2. Love that mini sheets, so much detail. Never thought of railways and Iraq, that must be an interesting journey.

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  3. That's an attractive set. It's nice for people from other countries that they also put English on the stamp.

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  4. Thanks for sharing another vital info (at least for me,) about this very controversial country.
    I love all your stamps.

    My Sunday Stamp#6

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  5. Wonderful stamps. A train journey through Iraq at any time in history would, I imagine, be an amazing journey.

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  6. Thank you for participating. All are very beautiful stamps.

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  7. Beautiful stamps. Very interesting info.

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  8. What a very, very, special collection! It's fascinating to see.

    I love your blog background, by the way!

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  9. Iraq Railway has an very old history of stamps. Please view my website at http://fuchs-online.com/iraq

    These pages are dedicated to the old Iraqi Railway stamps and postal history.

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