Welcome to Rainer's
 Iraq Railway Stamps Pages
 

Literature
   

Following literature and articles, published by various authors and organisation (philatelic and governmental), are useful and have been used for these pages:

  • The Postal History of Iraq by P.C. Pearson and E. B. Proud
  • The Iraq Directory, a general and commercial Directory of Iraq with a supplement for the neighbouring countries, issue of 1936
  • A recommended reading is the fine book "Middle East Railways", published 1981 from the Continental Railway Circle, written b Hugh Hughes. Although, no reverence if given to the postal system, however, it provides deep insight knowledge about the railway system itself. I planned to upload a scan of the Iraq section but I am not sure about the copyright issue of the book so I left this.
  • The British Railway Philatelic Group used to show a Iraq railway Cover plus s small biography but since the pages have been reorganized it seems the cover has disappeared.
  • My own article (in German language) "Die Bahnpost in Irak 1928–1942", published in the German philatelic magazine "Michel Rundschau in January 2007. (PDF File, 5 MB).
  • A undated map of the Iraq railway network can be accessed here.
  • From a 1930th. travel guide issued by Thomas cook I am happy to show a very detailed map from the Iraq railway net. As far as I have seen, almost all stations and halts are included in that list.
    The large size version of that map (5.50 MB) is here and a reduced version (1.10 MB) is here. Both images will be shown in a new browser window.
    PDF-Versions of the 2 maps are here (large map (5.50 MB) and small map (1.10 MB).
  • A 1930th. image of the landing stage at Magil-Basra, also showing a train.
  • Most likely the first appearance of the Iraq Railway stamps in the Philatelic Press was in the November 1928 issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly. (clipping only...).., the complete page can be downloaded here...  (PDF File, 321 KB)

  • So far the only standard catalogue world wide who makes note of these stamps is the German Michel Catalogue. So far, in the 2007/2008 edition of the German Michel  Middle East Catalogue there is a  footnote and some images. Not very much but after intensive lobbying by the author it is at least a beginning.

  • A undated map of the Iraq railway network can be accessed here.

  • My own article "Iraq Railway Post 1928 - c. 1942", published in the October 2007 issue of "The American Philatelist", the monthly publication of the American Philatelic Society. (PDF File, 915 KB). Permission granted by APS

  • A beautiful article from the April 1928 issue of "The Railway magazine" which included a 1928 railway map has been added. (PDF Format, 6,60 MB)

  • Iraq Railways – Portuguese Royalists, Cinderella Stamp Corner, by L. N. & M. Williams, The Stamp Magazine, August 1964, p508.

  • Iraq Railway Note, Cinderella Stamp Corner, by L. N. & M. Williams,

  • The Stamp Magazine, February 1965, p107.The Postal History of Iraq [Addendum], the Railway Letter Service, by Dr. Friedrich Spacek, The London Philatelist, Volume 105, May 1996, Number 1235, p130-132.

Furthermore, I recommend the web page from Andrew Grantham from UK, dedicated to railways of the Middle East including Afghanistan, this link will take you directly to the Iraq Railways. That page will be opened in a new browser window.

The web site of the State Company for Iraq Railways can be found here..