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Private Revenue Perfins of Queensland An Elsmore Coath production The authors would welcome your comments additions or input into this work
Q -------------------------------------------------------- QUEENSLAND/GOVTRAILYS.a User: Queensland Railways. Address: Brisbane, QLD Railway usage: 1885 issue: Die I 1d, 6d, 9d, 1/-, 1/6d, 2/-. Die II 3d, 6d, 1/-. Rarity Scale: 1885 issue: DieI 1d R4, 6d R4, 9d, 1/-. - plus 1/6d & 2/- [manuscript SPECIMEN] both R4. DieII 3d R4, 6d R4, 1/- R4. - plus 3d & 6d, [manuscript SPECIMEN] bothR4. Background: Queensland Government
Railways started in 1865 with the original Bigge's
Camp (later renamed Granchester) to Ipswich line,
eventually growing into a system that now covers
over 10,000 route kilometres and
represents Australia’s largest rail and
transport network. At its beginning the Queensland
Government Railways chose to adopt a narrow guage of
just 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in. as this was
seen as a way to build low cost railways that best
suited the topography of Queensland. Narrower gauge
railways require less earth to be removed from
hills and mountains during construction. These
original light and cheap railways were designed for
operation at only 15 mph or 20 mph. The choice of the non-standard
narrow gauge was controversial but despite a desire
to standardise rail networks in the Colonies the
narrow gauge was also adopted in Tasmania and
Western Australia. The rail network expanded quickly
up until the end of the 1800’s but later growth was
limited as road transport grew. A railway up the
coast and three inland routes provide a backbone to
the state's rail network. Numerous branch lines,
some now closed, once serviced remote areas and
continue providing transport to local industries,
particularly mining. Device: The device was made by
Slopers in the late 1880’s and it is only found on
the railway stamps of Queensland for a short period
in early 1890’s. It is a single head device. It is a large pattern and well
suited to the large Queensland Railway parcel stamps
of the period which were oblong and approximately 90
mm wide and 65 mm high. It is found on both the 1880
and the later 1885 versions of these stamps. Previous published references have
featured a distorted image but this would provide
little confusion as the size and style of the
pattern is unique. Of more concern was the rating of
“scarce” that was previously assigned to this
pattern. This is most inappropriate as the railway
stamps themselves are very rare and the perforated
versions are even rarer. The rarity of the pattern was further effected by the short period of use as a new smaller range of railway stamps were introduced in 1892 and the pattern was far to large to be used on these stamps. Related Patterns: Nil --------------------------------------------------------
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