Six large format GB stamps (60x21mm) featuring classic steam locomotives will be the first Royal Mail Special Stamp issue of 2004 when they are issued on January 13 next year.
The 'Classic Locomotives' set continues the transport series that began with Buses in 2001, Airliners in May 2002 and Transports of Delight in September 2003'. It also marks the 200th anniversary of the first journey by a steam locomotive, Trevithick's Penydarren locomotive, which took place in February 1804 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales.
Gavin Macrae, Director Stamps and Collectibles, Royal Mail, told STAMP MAGAZINE: 'In a year of anniversaries, it's apt that we chose steam locomotives to start our special stamp programme. The association of steam and stamps goes back to the 1840s, which not only saw the introduction the Penny Black, but also the arrival of The Steam Age - arguably the greatest achievement in transportation since the invention of the wheel'.
Five of the six stamps feature locomotives on preserved railways originally owned by the 'Big Four' British rail companies - The Great Western Railway (GWR), The London, Midland and Scottish (LMS), The London and North Eastern (LNER) and The Southern. The sixth, Dolgoch (20p), was taken on the narrow gauge Tallylyn Railway, an industrial line built to move slate from the quarries to the main line which, in 1951, became the first railway in the world to be preserved and operated by volunteers.

Stamp descriptions
The upcoming Classic Locomotives stamps are as follows:-
• A 20p value featuring the Dolgoch 0-4-0T. Dolgoch was the first locomotive to pull a passenger train on a heritage railway in the UK and possibly, the world. The stamp shows it on the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway in North Wales.

• The 28p featuring the CR 439 0-4-4 Caledonian Railway tank locomotive pulling a train of Caledonian Railway carriages alongside the shore of the Forth Estuary.

• The 'E' (European letter rate) stamp featuring the GCR 2.8.0 express goods locomotive in British Railways livery with a rake of 'windcutter' wagons. A typical freight train of the 1950s.

• The 42p GWR Manor 4-6-0 stamp featuring the Great Western Manor Class 'Bradley Manor' with a train of Great Western Railway carriages approaching Victoria Bridge over the River Severn.

• The 47p SR West Country 4-6-2 stamp shows the 'air smoothed' West Country class 'Blackmoor Vale' at Horsted Keynes Station. This class of locomotive is famous for pulling 'The Golden Arrow' and 'Bournemouth Belle' Pullman trains in the 1950s and early 60s.

• And finally the 68p BR Standard 4 2-6-4T stamp shows a BR Standard Class locomotive of the 1950s leaving Haworth Station. This loco was one of 999 engines built to British Railway designs based on the best practices of the 'Big Four' railway companies.

The issue will also be accompanied by a special miniature sheet with borders featuring the respective liveries of the train companies involved, plus a 'new look' GB presentation pack featuring artwork by the prolific GB stamp designer David Gentleman (who has designed over 100 British stamps over the past five decades).