Showing posts with label trains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trains. Show all posts

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Santos, Brazil

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This card came from the June Jubilee RR in 2010. It shows the tram of the coastal city of Santos. Among Santos' attractions are the Coffee Museum, the Football (soccer) Memorial, dedicated to Pélé and other players from the city, and the largest beachfront garden in the world. For far more details on the tram than I can stand to read, check out this page on the tramways of Brazil.

The stamp and its matching cancellation celebrate the Centenary of birth of President Tancredo de Almeida Neves. Issued in March 2010.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Netherlands Museum Railway

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A card from the June 2010 RR, from Wesley. The train is part of a museum in the eastern part of the Netherlands. This is the largest museum railway line in the Netherlands. The museum actually *is* the railway line, and you can ride on the train! The national railroad company used this railway line to transport freight up until the 1980s. It was preserved as an industrial monument of the peat moor country through which it runs, opening as a museum in 1992, and carrying passengers from 1994.

The railway operates on a regular schedule for museum visitors, and also hosts special events. For example, on November 26 and 27, St. Nicholas and his assistant Zwarte Piet will be riding the train.


This would not fly in the U.S. Apparently blackface, and Santa having a black slave sidekick, is not considered racist in the Netherlands.

Great stamps! The top two stamps are both from a set issued in 2001 for National Book Week, entitled "Between Two Cultures." The one on the left is a quote from E. du Perron, an influential Dutch poet of Eurasian descent, and the one on the right is a photograph taken by Ulay. That one on the bottom is from 1972 - wow!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Seeing off platform

Houlong

This is from vickietsai for the favorites tag. Can you see why it is one of my faves? It reminds me of taking the train in Japan. The back of the card:
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Anyone?

The white butterfly is actually a cutout hole in the stamp! I've never seen something like that before. There's no year of issue printed on the stamp, but googling tells me it's from a set of four butterflies issued in 2011. And I just realized that this card was postmarked on my birthday! A lovely present. :)
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