Locomotives, Croatia

So, after the revival of the postcards' blog, it is about time to bring this one back to life too. Though it has not been as neglected as the Postcards one, still, it's been a few months since anything has happened here.
I see Sunday Stamps is still alive and soon ready for a new round, so I thought it would be most convenient to join it at the new A in a few weeks.
For now, my favourite Croatian stamps from last year (yes, even more favourite than Balthazar and the cats :D).
They issue trains like every second year, but so far I must say that this design is the best one. Probably cos it kinda differs from the previous ones which kinda resembled each other, so I was never sure if I actually have a particular issue or not.

This set consists of two different stamps, both with a face value of 7.60 kunas and portray locomotives of the Samobor Railway.

The concept of Samobor Railway includes the narrow-gauge railway with the track width of 760 mm between Zagreb and Samobor that was operational between Jan. 16th, 1901 and Dec. 31st, 1979. The railway was constructed under the status of a commercial railway with a length of 19 kilometres.
After WWII, the railway became a part of JDŽ and on July 1st, 1950 it started operating as an independent company entitled Gradska željeznica u Zagrebu (GŽZ). In 1951 the railway was extended by 5 kilometres from Samobor to Bregana. During the next two decades, investments were made into railway renewal and modernisation of mobile capacities. Despite that, the railway transport on that track could not compete with the expansion of the roadway transport so the Samobor Railway was closed for transport at the beginning of 1980. Used engines or leased engines were mostly used to pull trains on that track. The only new engines were a steam locomotive no. 7 and aluminium diesel-electrical motor trains.


The first stamp shows the Steam Locomotive no. 7, while the second one The Silver Arrow Dev 1.

I have these stamps both mint and on a cover. I just need to find the FDC now to have it complete :)

Thanks to Predrag and Danijel for making it possible to have them in my collection!

Passenger Locomotives, Poland

P could stand for many things, but my brain is like switched off from the creative-box today, so I just couldn't come up with something else than Poland or Portugal... or Papua New Guinea, but then I seem to have no stamps from there. so Poland it is... with one of my all time favourite subjects - trains!

Issued on 21 September, 2002 in a set of 4 stamps, featuring the Polish Steam Locomotives from Wolsztyn.

The Wolsztyn steam locomotive was built in 1907 and today it is the only place where an old steam locomotive can be seen every day.

There are museums and open air museums in the world, but nowhere else are they used for scheduled trains. Wolsztyn steamers run on routes to Poznan, Leszno and Zbaszynka.
There are three machines under the steam. Two for passenger trains and one for freight trains and maneuvers at the station in Wolsztyn.

The passenger car locomotive Ok1-359 - 1,10 PLN (first from the left),  was built at the Schwarzkopf plant in Berlin in 1917. After the war,  Polish service began. First it was stationed in Toruń later in Gniezno, Poznan, Międzyrzecz, and since March 1989 is based in Wolsztyn.

The Ol49-7 steam engine - 1,10 zł (secdon from the left) was constructed in 1949 in the  Fablok - Chrzanów factories and was produced until 1954. Today it is the most used steam engine in the Wolsztyn steam locomotive, used to run passenger trains.

Commodity Steamer TKi3-87 - 2 zł (third from the left) - This is the oldest steam engine from the Wolsztyn steam locomotive series. It was built in Konigsberg in 1908, as ordered by the Prussian Railway. After the war it was sent to Poznań. In 1995, after the renovation in Gniezno, it arrived in Wolsztyn.

Rapid steam locomotive Pm36-2 - 2 PLN (fourth from the left) - A steam locomotive called "Beautiful Helena" (after Ms. Helena Jones, who substantially contributed to its restoration), developing a speed of 130 km/h and constructed by the Chrzanów Railway Construction Bureau in 1936. It was an experimental steam locomotive to run light express trains with the Pm 36 mark. One of them, Pm 36-2, was the only survivor of the war and was exploited until 1965. In 1995, it was repatriated to Wolsztyn.



Sorry if at times the text sounds odd - couldnt find much information in English, so this is some kind of a proofread google-translated version from Polish texts.

For more interesting ideas under the letter P, click on the following link => Sunday Stamps

Narrow Gauge Steam Locomotives, Croatia

On October 3rd, the Croatian post issued these two locomotives' stamps - seems that each year, the do dedicate an issue to trains and railways, which I absolutely support :)

The history of railway systems is marked by huge and complicated development of hauling locomotives, starting from steam locomotives to the electrically, diesel and diesel-electrically driven locomotives. At the same time the sequence of development from steam locomotives to today's technically and technologically sophisticated hauling locomotives was enormous and can be traced in many segments. This is the reason why the review of the original series of steam locomotives - especially those which were used in industry or in freight and passenger traffic on narrow gauge railway tracks is almost inconsistent when compared with the possibilities and exploitation features of today’s locomotives.

Steam locomotive model  207 (top stamp) - locomotives of this kind were built for hauling in industrial plants and mines for the 600 millimetre gauge. The locomotive model no 207 is a tender locomotive functioning on the saturated steam system. It was built in 1949 at the Đuro Đaković Factory in Slavonski Brod. From 1951 it was used in the mine Rudovci and then in the Tile and Brick Factory Ilovac in Karlovac. It was withdrawn from traffic on 1 December 1966. In 1993 the locomotive was donated to the Croatian Railway Museum by the Technical Museum of Zagreb. The power of the locomotive was 26 kW (35 KSi), its length was 5.312 mm, its weight 8.87 t, and the highest allowed speed 20 km/h.




Steam Locomotive of the series JDŽ/HDŽ/JŽ 83-106(SHS/BH Stb IV a5 1138) (bottom stamp) -  locomotives of this series were built for hauling of light freight and passenger trains on narrow gauge tail tracks of 760 mm in Bosnia and Hercegovina. They were constructed by Austrian engineers by reinforcing one kind of steam locomotive which was already hauling trains on local lines in Austrian Alps. In the period between 1903 and 1929 the locomotives from this series were built in Austrian factories Krauss in Linz and Jungenthal in Sieg and in the period between 1948 and 1949 ten locomotives from the series were produced also in the Đuro Đaković Factory in Slavonski Brod for the needs of Yugoslav Railways. At first the locomotives were built using compound system on saturated steam and later the system of superheated steam. Their special features were round steam distributors, Heusinger steering, handbrake and vacuum brake Hardy, water filter and chimney Kobel. The locomotives of this series were known in public under the name „Ćiro“ and they hauled trains on the narrow gauge railway network in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After Second World War on the narrow-gauge railway Split-Sinj (the so called rera of Sinj) several of these locomotives were used as replacement for the locomotives of the series JDŽ/HDŽ 186. In Croatia one locomotive remained preserved from the mentioned series and is featured on this stamp). The locomotive was built in 1916 in the Krauss Factory in Linz, Austria; from 1918 it was used in Bosnia and Herzegovina and later also in Croatia. It was withdrawn from traffic on 18. February 1975. The locomotive is exhibited at the train station Ploče, and makes part of the fundus of the Croatian Railway Museum. The power of the locomotives from this series was 254 kW (345 KSi), the length with tender 13,700 mm, the weight of the empty locomotive 32.5 t, the weight of the locomotive in function 36 t and the highest allowed speed 35 km/h.

I have to thank myself for these two :D