Home > 2010 Issue Summary > Great Rail Journeys
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Stamps featuring trains/railways are a popular thematic, and this issue is sure to appeal.
Two of Australia's longest rail journeys, the Indian Pacific and the Ghan are shown on the 55c stamps, along with the West Coast Wilderness Railway in Tasmania. The larger $2.10 stamp features the Kuranda Scenic Railway in Queensland.
Collectors might be excused for thinking that some of the designs look familiar. The Ghan has appeared twice before, in 1993 in its green and gold livery, and in 2004 in its current red livery celebrating the opening of the Darwin to Alice Springs section of the line. Even more familiar is the Kuranda Scenic Railway stamp, with an almost identical scene shown on the 45c stamp of 1993.
Ghan stamps from 1993 and 2004, and Kuranda stamp from 1993
Issue Information
The issue consists of three 55c stamps and a $2.10 stamp.
Stamp Design:
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Melinda Coombes
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Printing Process:
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Lithography (more information)
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Stamp Size:
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55c 37.5 mm x 26 mm
$2.10 50 mm x 30 mm
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Designs:
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55c The Ghan
55c West Coast Wilderness Railway, Tasmania
55c Indian Pacific
$2.10 Kuranda Scenic Railway, Queensland
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Usage:
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55c Small letter rate within Australia (details)
$2.10 Letter rate to Europe, Africa, America (to 50 grams)
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Gummed Sheet Stamps
Each gummed stamp was issued in separate sheets.
Sheet stamps
Astute collectors might notice that the illustrations of the stamp pack and first day cover in Stamp Bulletin 304 showed a se-tenant strip of three 55c stamps. The same illustrations were used on Australia Post's webshop. Australia Post has confirmed that no 55c stamps were printed in se-tenant strips.
Pack illustration on webshop
Actual contents of pack
Another surprise was the sheet layout of both the 55c and $2.10 stamps. It is odd that Australia Post decided not to include a gutter design in the 55c gutters, despite the immense popularity of trains as a thematic topic!
55c Ghan stamp gutter strip
Even more surprising was discovering the $2.10 stamp has a gutter strip too! Since the 1990s all 50 mm x 30 mm sized stamps were printed in sheets of 50 with no gutter. The gutter has been printed between the second and third row of the stamps - a rather odd position given gutters usually split the sheet into two equal panes.
$2.10 Kuranda Scenic Railway sheet
Gummed Miniature Sheets
The $2.10 stamp also appears in a miniature sheet, with the margin continuing the design of the stamp. Miniature sheets used for first day covers have been trimmed to 85 mm in height. These are not listed as they can be manufactured.
Miniature sheet
Gummed Prestige Booklet Panes (Normal Version - 7 May 2010)
A prestige booklet was also released with this issue. Three panes contain unique blocks of four with the other pane including an enlarged version of the miniature sheet.
Prestige booklet panes (click on each pane for an enlargement)
Issue Date:
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7 May 2010 (more information)
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Booklet Pane Size:
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156 mm x 104 mm
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Perforations:
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Comb perforated 13¾ x 14½ (55c stamps), 13½ x 14 ($2.10 stamp) (more information)
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Gummed Prestige Booklet Panes (Imperforated Version - 8 May 2010)
A limited edition imperforate prestige booklet is being released in support of Australia 2013 (see www.australia2013.com.au). These were available for sale for $50 each.
Two of the prestige booklet panes (click on each pane for an enlargement)
Issue Date:
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8 May 2010 (at London Stamp Show), Australian orders sent out mid-June (more information)
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Booklet Pane Size:
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156 mm x 104 mm
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Perforations:
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Imperforate (more information)
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Gummed Prestige Booklets (Regular Version - 7 May 2010)
The prestige booklet contains the above four panes, and four postcards showing the trains.
Booklet cover
Front and back of the postcards (click on each pane for an enlargement)
Surprisingly the price on the back of the booklet is $12.95, whereas the booklet sells for $10.95. This is the second time a pricing error has occurred on a prestige booklet this year.
Price on the back of the booklet, and correct price on Australia Post's website
Issue Date:
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7 May 2010 (more information)
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Booklet Size:
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156 mm x 104 mm
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Contents:
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Three panes of 4 x 55c, one pane with $2.10 miniature sheet
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Selling Price:
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$10.95
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Gummed Prestige Booklets (Imperforate Version - 8 May 2010)
The imperforate prestige booklet contains four imperforate panes, along with four postcards showing the trains. The booklet was limited to 500, and were individually numbered. Each booklet was overprinted with the Australia 2013 logo.
Imperforate booklet cover
In all other ways these booklets are the same as the regular booklets - same pages, same barcode and same pricing error.
Issue Date:
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8 May 2010 (at London Stamp Show), Australian orders sent out mid-June (more information)
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Booklet Size:
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156 mm x 104 mm
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Contents:
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Three panes of 4 x 55c, one pane with $2.10 miniature sheet
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Selling Price:
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$50.00
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Self-adhesive Coil Stamps
This issue included self-adhesive coil and booklet stamps.
Coil stamps
Self-adhesive Booklet Stamps
Four booklet stamps were released with this issue. The 55c booklet stamps differ by printer and phosphor tagging. The $2.10 self-adhesive, the first of this size, was only issued in booklets.
Self-adhesive booklet stamps
Phosphor layout on 55c and $2.10 stamps
Phosphor on Pemara (coil) stamps (top), and McKellar Renown (booklet) stamps (bottom)
Self-adhesive Booklets
Two self-adhesive booklets were issued. The booklet containing 20 x 55c was rouletted and could be folded up. The 5 x $2.10 booklet features a unique layout and was not rouletted, but the booklets could be folded in half without damage to the stamps. Each booklet was distributed to post offices in chequebooks of 20 booklets. These are not listed on this website.
Booklet layout
Booklet cover (Philatelic covers)
Booklet cover (General cover)
Postal Stationery
Maximum cards showing photographs of the four trains accompanied this issue. The four postcards in the prestige booklet were not postage paid.
Maximum cards
Maximum Cards
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Size:
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146 mm x 104 mm
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Selling Price:
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$6.75 (set of 4)
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Stamp Imprint:
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Three bars (picture)
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Issue Summary
The table below summarises the above information. The cost of each item is given, along with a total for each section. In some cases the stamps are only available from self-adhesive booklets (sold at face value), or from prestige booklets, souvenir sheets or folders (sold above face value).
Item and Description
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Cost
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For the General Collector
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Gummed sheet stamps
4 values from sheets (55c x 3, $2.10)
Miniature sheets
Miniature sheet
Self-adhesive stamps
3 values from coil (55c x 3)
Single stamp from booklet ($2.10)
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$3.75
$2.10
$1.65 $10.50
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Total
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$18.00
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For the Specialised Collector
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Self-adhesive stamps
Booklet stamps with different phosphor
Stamps from Imperforate booklet
4 imperforate stamps from imperforate booklet panes
Blocks, pairs and strips
Blocks of 4 from prestige booklet panes
Imperforate blocks of 4 from prestige booklets
Booklet panes
4 panes from prestige booklet
4 imperforate panes from prestige booklet
Booklets
2 booklets with philatelic barcode
2 booklets with general barcode
Perforated prestige booklet
Imperforate prestige booklet
Postal stationery
Maximum cards
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$11.00
$50.00
$10.95 $50.00
$10.95 $50.00
$21.50 $21.50 $10.95 $50.00
$6.75
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Total
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$293.60
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Grand Total
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$311.60
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References
Australia Post, Australian Stamp Bulletin, No. 304, May-June 2010
If you have more information, or spot an error, please e-mail me.
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