Romfilatelia and Romanian Post introduce into circulation on Wednesday, September 24th, this year, an issue with the collectible theme Steam Locomotives, consisting of four postage stamps, a First Day Cover, 4 maxicards for maximaphily enthusiasts and a philatelic folder with a special product in a limited edition.
The history of railways in Romania begins in 1854 when the Oravița – Baziaș route was inaugurated in the Banat under Austro-Hungarian administration, with a length of 62 km. The steam locomotives used were made in Austria.
On the territory of the Kingdom of Romania, under the reign of King Carol I, the first railway built by the English John Trevor-Barkley Company, inaugurated in 1869, was Bucharest Filaret – Giurgiu.
The first railway built entirely by Romanian engineers was Buzău – Mărășești, inaugurated on October 18th, 1881, considered as a remarkable success of the local railway technology.
Extensive modernization works followed, starting with the integration of the port of Constanța into the railway circuit through the special achievement represented by Anghel Saligny’s famous project ‘King Carol I Bridge’ at Cernavodă and continuing with the doubling of some lines on the routes Constanța – Cernavodă (1931), Adjud – Tecuci (1933), Câmpina – Brașov (1941). Another 635 km of double line were added later. The period from the 1930s to the 1940s can be catalogued as the ‘golden age’ of railways in Romania.
The four postage stamps of the postage stamp issue depict steam locomotives in service between 1872 and 1977.
The ‘Resicza 2’ locomotive (postage stamp with the face value of Lei 4) was manufactured in Reșița for the first time in 1872, modelled after the ‘Szekul’ locomotive brought from Vienna. This locomotive had a narrow gauge (948 mm). Between 1925 and 1964, 1,461 steam locomotives of various types, gauges and powers were manufactured in Reșița.
The CFR 1493 locomotive was manufactured at the Henschel & Sohn Works in Kassel in 1894 (postage stamp with the face value of Lei 6.50). The company, founded in 1810, built more than 30,000 locomotives between 1849 and 1961.
Locomotive manufactured in Bucharest in 1949 at the 23 August Plant (postage stamp with the face value of Lei 7) was part of a batch of 10 locomotives that were intended to haul trains on the narrow gauge railways operated by CFR.
The 231.065 locomotive from the famous CFR ‘Pacific’ series (postage stamp with a face value of Lei 14) is part of a batch of 90 locomotives purchased by CFR between 1913 and 1922 from the German company Henschel & Sohn in Kassel. This locomotive of the series was assigned to the CFR Bucharest Railroad Department in 1922. On October 15th, the same year, it hauled the Royal Train to Alba Iulia, where the coronation ceremony of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie took place.
The First Day Cover depicts a panoramic view of a submontane area crossed by a train pulled by a steam locomotive.
Romfilatelia thanks the representatives of S.N.T.F.M. “CFR Marfă” S.A., for the specialized consultancy for the development of this postage stamp issue.
