In philately a railway stamp is a stamp issued to pay the cost of the conveyance of a letter or parcel by rail.
A wide variety of railway stamps have been issued by different countries and by private and state railways. Railway stamps of an unofficial or semi-official type are considered cinderella stamps.
The first railway stamp was issued in England in 1846 for parcels[1] and Belgium has issued railway stamps since 1879.[2]
From 1891 British mainline railway companies issued railway letter stamps for the conveyance of letters by rail, although that service has now ceased apart from on some small tourist lines.[3]
Ewen, Herbert L'Estrange (1906). Railway Newspaper and Parcel Stamps of the United Kingdom. Ewen’s Colonial Stamp Market Ltd. (Reprint, 1983 by Tim Clutterbuck & Co.)
Jackson, H.T. (1979). The Railway and Airway Letter Stamps of the British Isles, 1891-1971. Harry Hayes. ISBN0-905222-37-7.