Filatelistengroep HET BALTISCHE GEBIED RAILWAY POST IN LITHUANIA Jan Kaptein and Eugenijus Uspuras 56 CONTENTS RAILWAY POST IN LITHUANIA 2 Foreword Ruud van Wijnen 4 Chapter 1 Czarist period 18 Chapter 2 German period until 1923 32 Chapter 3 Polish period 48 Chapter 4 Routes 1-2 and 3-4 62 Chapter 5 Lines 5-6 and 17-18 72 Chapter 6 Lines 7-8, 9-10 and 11-12 84 Chapter 7 Lines 13-14, 15-16, 19-20, 21-22 and the unnumbered line Ukmergė – Jonava 94 Chapter 8 Ostland period 104 Chapter 9 Soviet period Additional illustrations: p. 83, 103, 124 The cover On the cover a folded letter, 1862, from Werzbolovo (Lithuanian Virbalis) to Wilno, bearing pale blue & carmine pink Poland nr 1 stamp cancelled by Russian “14” in a hexagon of dots, and showing postmark “S.P.B. WARSHAVSK. ZH. D / POCHT. VAG No 3”. (Station No 37 = Werzbolovo) (11-9 J.C). (collection Eugenijus Uspuras) Officially the railway line Sankt Peterburg - Wilno - Warsaw started operating on December 15, 1862. Some routes, however, were constructed and used earlier. Postmarks with figures 12, 14, 15 and 16 were introduced for TPOs – Travelling Post Offices- of the St. Peterburg – Warsaw railway in 1861. This is the only letter known bearing Poland No 1 cancelled by Russian “14” in a hexagon of dots. INTRODUCTION Dear readers, Jan Kaptein tracked him down by added the most recent searching philatelic magazines for information and tables. Here our well- Six years ago, in 2004, our editor Jan exhibition awards for Baltic meant thanks for their efforts. Kaptein wrote an article in “Het collections. Contact was made and for This is the second issue of “Het Baltische Gebied” (The Baltic Area) many years e-mails were exchanged, Baltische Gebied” in colour and for bearing the title “Railway Post in with or without picture scans. this purpose new scans were made of Lithuania 1” (Spoorpost in Litouwen many pictures. This could no longer 1). The addition “1” promised more, In the course of time it became clear be done, however, with the postal and, indeed, Jan kept his word. In that we had published information in items originally belonging to the col- 2008 he finished an interesting series “Het Baltische Gebied” that had not lection of the outstanding collector of articles on mail transport by train in been available to collectors before, Gerhard Hahne who died in 2006. Lithuania with article number “9”. and by and by the idea of bundling the This survey of the railway post in nine articles into one whole publica- Lithuania contains the most recent In these nine articles a picture emerges tion grew. During the Wipa-exhibition information in this area, but, of course, of the construction of the first Russian in Vienna in September 2008 Eugeni- nothing is ever finished. There will railways in the future republic of Lith- jus Uspuras, Ruud van Wijnen, and a always be a collector, somewhere in uania –from-around 1860 until the end number of German collectors met at the world, discovering something new. of the mail processing transport in the information stand of the four Bal- It is our hope that such new mail vans tic philatelist groups. The idea was additions will be reported to Jan during the Soviet occupation up to the discussed and generally accepted, with Kaptein. beginning of the nineties of last the express wish to publish the survey century. in English. By doing so as many “Het Baltische Gebied” aspires, The construction of railways, the use collectors as possible within and out- among other things, to record and of mail vans, and the use of railway side “our” own Baltic circle can ac- spread the philatelic knowledge of the cancels is described not only for the cess the information, especially those Baltic countries. With this extra Lithuanian heartland, but the Memel philatelists interested in railway post. voluminous and special issue of our and Vilnius areas are also magazine we certainly hope to con- taken into account. Russian, German, These past two years a number of tribute to this aim. I wish everybody Lithuanian, Polish, and Soviet cancels people have been working to realize much reading-pleasure. are shown and an inventory is made. this special issue of “Het Baltische Gebied”: Jan Kaptein edited the sepa- Ruud van Wijnen The Lithuanian collector Eugenijus rate texts into one whole, Joop van Uspuras was co-author -it was his vast Heeswijk took care of the exhibition collection “Railway post in translation into English faithfully and Lithuania 1869-1969” that formed the with his characteristic accuracy, and basis for the series of articles. Eugenijus Uspuras reread the texts and 2 | HET BALTISCHE GEBIED 56 2010/1 - 15 JUNI 2010 ĮVADAS Gerb. skaitytojai, Eugenijaus Ušpuro didžiulė vieną, Joop van Heeswijkas su jam parodomoji kolekcija ,,Geležinkelio būdingu kruopštumu rūpinosi vertimu Prieš šešerius metus (2004 m.) žurnale paštas Lietuvoje 1869–1969 m.“ buvo į anglų kalbą, o Eugenijus Ušpuras ,,Het Balitische Gebied“ (liet. šių straipsnių pagrindas. Janas tikrino tekstus, pridėjo lentelių bei ,,Baltijos regionas“) mūsų redaktorius Kapteinas jį surado filateliniuose pačios naujausios informacijos. Labai Janas Kapteinas paskelbė straipsnį žurnaluose ieškodamas apdovanotų dėkojame jiems už pastangas. Tai ,,Geležinkelio paštas Lietuvoje 1“ parodinių Baltijos regiono kolekcijų. antrasis spalvotas ,,Het Baltische (,,Spoorpost in Litouwen 1“). Skaičius Buvo užmegztas kontaktas ir kelerius Gebied“ leidimas ir jam prireikė iš ,,1“ pavadinime buvo tęsinio metus buvo susirašinėjama naujo nuskenuoti daugybę iliustracijų. užuomina ir iš tiesų J. Kapteinas elektroniniu paštu, kartais siunčiant ir Deja, nebegalėjome nuskenuoti pašto laikėsi duoto žodžio: 2008 m. skenuotus pašto siuntinius. siuntų priklausiusių įžymiam devintuoju straipsniu jis pabaigė itin kolekcininkui Gerhardui Hahne‘ui, įdomių straipsnių seriją apie Prabėgus kiek laiko paaiškėjo, kad kuris mirė 2006 m. Šioje apžvalgoje traukiniais gabenamą paštą Lietuvoje. informacija, kurią buvo pateikta pateikiama pati naujausia informacija žurnale ,,Het Baltische Gebied“ iki apie Lietuvos geležinkelio paštą, Šiuose devyniuose straipsniuose šiol kolekcininkams nebuvo žinoma. tačiau visada yra kur tobulėti. Visada aprašoma pirmųjų geležinkelių statyba Netrukus kilo idėja visus devynis pasaulyje atsiras kolekcininkas atradęs Rusijoje, būsimoje Lietuvos straipsnius sujungti į vieną. ,,Wipa- kažką naujo. Tikimės, kad bet kokia Respublikos teritorijoje nuo maždaug exhibition“ parodoje, vykusioje nauja informacija pasieks Janą 1860 m., sovietų okupacijos Vienoje 2008 m. rugsėjį, Eugenijus Kapteiną. laikotarpiu, kai paštas buvo Ušpuras, Ruud van Wijnenas ir keletas gabenamas pašto vagonais, iki vokiečių kolekcininkų susitiko prie Be viso to, ,,Het Baltische Gebied“ devintojo praėjusio amžiaus informacinio keturių Baltijos regiono siekia prisidėti prie filatelinių žinių dešimtmečio. Jame aprašoma filatelistų grupių stendo. Jie aptarė šią apie Baltijos šalis kaupimo ir geležinkelio statyba, pašto vagonai, idėją, visi ją palaikė ir išreiškė norą skleidimo. Išleidę šį itin išsamų ir geležinkelio pašto ženklų paskelbtus straipsnius išleisti anglų ypatingą mūsų žurnalo numerį, nuvertinimas ne tik centrinėje kalba. Tokiu būdu kur kas daugiau tikimės prisidėti prie minėto tikslo. Lietuvos dalyje, bet ir Klaipėdoje bei kolekcininkų iš mūsų Baltijos šalių Linkiu visiems malonaus skaitymo. Vilniaus apskrityje. Taip pat rato ir už jo ribų galės susipažinti su pateikiami ir inventorizuojami pateikiama informacija, ypač tie, kurie Rusijos, Vokietijos, Lietuvos, domisi geležinkelio paštu. Ruud van Wijnenas Lenkijos bei sovietiniai pašto ženklų nuvertinimai. Pastaruosius dvejus metus nemažai žmonių dirbo su šiuo ypatingu ,,Het Visus šiuos metus straipsnių Baltische Gebied“ leidiniu: Janas bendraautoriaus, lietuvio filatelisto Kapteinas sujungė atskirus tekstus į 15 JUNI 2010 - 2010/1 HET BALTISCHE GEBIED 56 | 3 CHAPTER 1 CZARIST PERIOD The railway post in Lithuania is a remarkable collecting area. We deal with the special cancels of the ‘travelling post offices’ and the railway station post offices. Articles on the railway post of Lithuania had already been published in HBG issues 1, 2, and 3. This publication is meant as an addition., particularly concerning the Czarist period, and above all it’s aim is to show many items. The illustrations are partly from my collection, and for a great part from the award-winning exhibition collec- tion of Eugenijus Uspuras’s ‘Railway post in Lithuania 1869-1969’. The first railways in Lithuania: the Czarist period In 1851 the Czarist government Ill. 1. (81 %) decided on the construction of the Letter with a ВИЛЬНА (Vilnius) cancel to Moscow from 1873. In earlier single St Peterburg - Warsaw railway. This circular cancels ВИЛЬНА is used instead of ВИЛЬНО. main railway line was to lead from Below in the cancel it reads СТ Ж ДОР, the abbreviation of СТАНЦІЯ ДВИНСКЪ (Dwinsk, Latvian ЖЕЛБЭНОИ ДОРОЖКИ, Stantsiya = Zheleznodorozhniy = railway station. Daugavpils) via ВИЛЬНО (Wilno, Vilnius) to ВАРШАВА (Warsaw). The linewas completed in 1862. In the Of course the lines do not take into mail van was necessary the Postal same year the line from ВИЛЬНО account present-day borders, but also Department had to pay the charges. (Wilno,Vilnius) to Eydtkuhnen in East did not take into account the borders In addition it was permitted to place Prussia was also completed. The first of the provinces. letter boxes at the railway stations. part, ВЕРЖБОЛОВО In 1858 hexagonal number cancels (Werzbolovo, Lithuanian Virbalis) – Railway post were introduced for use on the railway КОВНА (Kowna, Lithuanian mail. For railway stations and mail Kaunas), had been opened on April From the very beginning, in 1851, vans on the С. ПЕТЕРБУРГЪ 28, 1861. Via Eydtkuhnen - Königs- there were agreements between the (St Peterburg) – ВИЛЬНО (Wilno, berg the line ran to Berlin and further Postal Department and the railway Vilnius) – ВАРШАВА (Warsaw) line westward. On May 9, 1862 this line companies concerning the transport of the number cancels 12-17 were was extended, via Kosedary mail by train. The Postal Department introduced. (Kaisiadorys), to Wilna. Here this line had special mail vans constructed in then links to the main line which the mail was carried.