Some of the most exciting trains in India have been those with enticing names like Frontier Mali, Kalka Mail, Punjab Mail, to name a few. The word 'mail' meant that they carried mail, or letters and parcels that went through the postal system. Each of these trains carried a special coach in which not only were letters and parcels carried but they were also sorted on the train itself. By convention, mail was carried by the fastest train on the route so that the 'Mail' trains were the fastest and the most prestigious. Of course, with the advent of the Rajdhanis and the Shatabdis in India, the 'Mail' trains lost their preeminence. With the proliferation of air travel and faster means of carrying postage, the importance of the mail train was further reduced.
Be that as it may, in its heydays, the two great institutions were the railways and the postal services. They came together in a big way through the issue of postage stamps that related to and commemorated railway events. An avid collector and philatelist, the author has put together this delightful book which exhibits virtually all stamps that have been issued that depict the railways in all its aspects. Not just stamps, the book also displays special covers, stamp cancellations, RMS cancellations, etc. To give a complete picture, the stamps are accompanied by short write-ups on the subject the stamp is depicting. For example, along with the stamps of the Darjeeling HImalayan Railway, there is a short note on the railway itself.
An interesting item in the book is a picture of a scene made entirely by putting thousands of postage stamps together. The size of the original picture is about a meter in length.
A complete book that any rail enthusiast will love and appreciate.