News & Reviews News Wire New postage stamps will honor transcontinental railroad 150th anniversary NEWSWIRE

New postage stamps will honor transcontinental railroad 150th anniversary NEWSWIRE

By Angela Cotey | February 14, 2019

| Last updated on November 3, 2020

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transcontinentalrailroad
Three new postage stamps celebrate the transcontinental railroad’s 150th anniversary.
USPS
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service has added five additional subjects to the 2019 Stamp Program, including the Golden Spike.
More details on dates and locations for the first-day-of-issue ceremonies are coming.
Three new stamps in a pane of 18 mark the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, a massive engineering feat that reduced travel time across the country from as many as six months to about one week and made the American West an integral part of the nation. Two different stamps feature the Jupiter and the No. 119 locomotives that powered the trains carrying the officers and guests of two railroad companies to the Golden Spike Ceremony, held when the two rail lines were joined at Promontory Summit in Utah. A third stamp portrays the famous golden spike that was a prominent part of the ceremony. Art director Greg Breeding designed the issuance. Michael J. Deas painted the Jupiter and No. 119 stamps. Kevin Cantrell illustrated the stamp depicting the ceremonial golden spike and did the border treatments and typography for all three stamps.
Source: USPS

8 thoughts on “New postage stamps will honor transcontinental railroad 150th anniversary NEWSWIRE

  1. Doesn’t the USPS know who the “two railroad companies” were? Or are they not allowed to name businesses?

  2. Has anyone looked at the center stamp? Where’s the spike’s HEAD? I don’t see how, even by 1860’s standards, a headless spike could hold a rail inplace. Otherwise, buy ’em, peel e’m and use ’em on your mail.

  3. I remember watching a John Allen video of his G&D model railroad. He actually made some 2 or three cent postage stamps with a G&D locomotive on it–at least until the Post Office caught him! Yes, the G&D stamp and an actually stamp were cancelled.

  4. Pleased to provide a laffer….years ago the P.O. produced a series of stamps, with original artwork, commemorating early streamliners: GG1 Congressional, Super Chief, Daylight, 20th. Century, Hiawatha. Along with stamps, one could purchase 8×12 prints. The Otto Kuhler F-7 Hiawatha was captioned “Chicago to Minneapolis & the Twin Cities.”

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