T36 - Railway Construction

The railway has a history with more than 100 years in China.  The Wusong-Shanghai (or Songhu) railroad [上海淞沪铁路] was the first Chinese railway.  It started construction in 1874, started operation in 1876 for a 15 km railroad.  It was pulled down in 1877 and rebuilt the following year.  It was bombed by Japanese January 28th 1932.

At the time when People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, there were 21,800 km of railway in China, but because of war damages, only 11, 000 km railway can be used.  After China rushed into repair mode, most of the railways were open to traffic by the end of 1950.

In the following several decades, Chinese railway construction has made great progress.  China makes railways under central management control, invests much money in building new railway lines and rebuilding old railway lines every year.

To reflect the railway construction and achievement in China, the Ministry of the Posts and Telecommunications of People's Republic of China released a set of three stamps on October 30, 1979.

(3-1) 8 fen, Electric locomotive  电力机车
(3-2) 8 fen, Newly built railway line  铁路新线
(3-3) 8 fen, Big railway bridge  铁路大桥

(3-1)【Electric locomotive】An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines.  The stamp depicts an electric locomotive leading a series of green train carriages into a tunnel.
 
(3-2)【Newly built railway line】The stamp depicts high railway bridge among tall mountains in the background. This is to show that railway lines are extending from the cities and developed areas into rural and frontier areas.

(3-3)【Big railway bridge】 The stamp depict the railway bridge of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge.  It is a double-decked road-rail truss bridge across the Yangtze River between Pukou and Xiaguan in Nanjing.  It started construction on January 18, 1960.  It opened to traffic on 1968 and is 1,576 m long.
　　

T36 – Railway Construction  铁路建设 Issue Date: 1979.10.30
Serial Number:	T36
Scott No.:	1527-1529
Michel No.:	1536-1538
Number of stamps in Set:	3
Denomination:	8 fen for stamp 1, 2, 3
Quantity of Issue:	7,500,000 for stamp 1, 2, 3
Perforation:	P11 X 11½
Sheet Composition:	50 (5 X 10) for stamp 1, 2, 3
Size of stamps:	40 X 30 mm for stamp 1, 2, 3
Designer:	Jiang Weijie, Li Qingfa 姜伟杰, 李庆发
Engraver:	Jiang Weijie, Li Qingfa 姜伟杰, 李庆发
Printing Process:	Engraving and photogravure
Printing House:	Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works