Description

Talyllyn Railway miniature sheet of four different rouletted 25c/p stamps, marking 70 years since the publication of Four Little Engines by Rev. W Awdry. Issued on 10 May 2025, the miniature sheet was produced as a limited edition of just 250 copies.

Four Little Engines was first published in 1955, and was the tenth book in Awdry’s famous Railway Series. Having visited the Talyllyn Railway in 1952, Awdry was inspired to create the narrow-gauge Skarloey Railway, which made its first appearance in this book, alongside four locomotives that were also based on those from Talyllyn. The stamps depict each of those locomotives: the fictional Peter Sam, based on the real-life No. 4 Edward Thomas (top left); Rheneas, based on No. 2 Dolgoch (top right); Sir Handel, based on No. 3 Sir Haydn (bottom left); and Skarloey, based on No. 1 Talyllyn (bottom right).

U/M / Unmounted Mint / MNH / Mint Never Hinged.

About the Talyllyn Railway

In 1957, the narrow-gauge Talyllyn Railway in mid Wales became the first UK railway to issue its own railway letter stamps. Such labels were immediately popular as souvenirs for the railway’s visitors, but also performed a postal function, paying for the carriage of mail via the railway’s own letter delivery service.

As the Railway Philatelic Group explains, however, subsequent changes to the agreement between the Royal Mail, British Rail and independent railways – most recently in 1998 – has seen the number of railways offering a letter service dwindle.

As of 2025, the Talyllyn Railway remains one of only three UK railways still running a letter service, with current issues available from the shop at Tywyn Wharf, and the most recent new issue released in May 2025. The other active railway letter services are understood to be the Ffestiniog Railway and the Nene Valley Railway.

For details of all Talyllyn issues, see the excellent Philatelic Compendium website.