Other stamp producers issue commemorative stamps. Welsh Postal Oddities is proud to present a pair of Uncommemorative stamps, together with a complementary remembrance stamp.

   Many will link Wales to railways, for various reasons. Some of Britain’s earliest rails were laid down in Wales; much of the coal that fed the steam locomotives of the past; the Great Little Railways of Wales provide an experience for all ages. But in the 1960s things looked bleak. Richard Beeching was appointed to produce a report on the future of British Railways. Instead of proposing a solution, its conclusion was to axe thousands of miles of lines. Wales perhaps suffered more than other areas, and nearly lost all lines apart from one main line. Beeching was born in April 1913 and the report was published in April 1963.

   The steam locos, beloved by many, were also on course for replacement by characterless diesel and electric locos; coaches by dreaded multiple units. Hundreds were sold to Woodhams, scrap dealers, based in Barry. But Dai Woodham, sympathetic to preservation societies while remaining a businessman, held the locomotives in storage until the societies had raised their scrap value. This, coupled with all those miles of abandoned trackbed left after Beeching, allowed heritage railways to spring up all over the UK.

   These three stamps show Beeching with his infamous grin as he published his report, the before and after rail maps of Wales, and the locomotives stored at Barry yard.