Railway telegraph offices

[John Hardinge]

These have always been a mystery to many. Have attached the following article. If anyone has more information I would be pleased to hear from them. Holders of large railway stamp accumulations in particular may be able to help.

John


The Tasmanian Railway Telegraph Offices-their openings, operation and procedures


Nothing remains more of a mystery than the operation and cancels of the Tasmanian railway telegraph offices. This article is an attempt to shed some light on an area not often looked at and, due to the scarcity of information and cancels and lack of gazettal notices, a hard area to research.

Firstly, what purposes did the railway telegraph offices serve and by what system did they operate? The setting up of telegraph offices at the various Tasmanian railway stations commenced not long after the opening of the first railway in Tasmania, the Launceston and Western railway from Launceston to Deloraine when the TGR took over the Launceston and Western Railway operation on 3.8.1872, assuming full control rather than lease on 1.11.1873. This was quickly followed by the opening of the Tasmanian Main Line railway firstly to Western Junction(Evandale Junction at the time),then all the way to Launceston on 18.10.1875. The TML Railway quickly adopted the railway telegraph office and train staff systems operated by the TGR on the former Launceston and Western railway.

The RTO system was used for a number of purposes, however, the chief amongst these was for safe working purposes. None of the lines in Tasmania being duel track, it was important for safe working purposes to be aware of the position of the train at all times, as per the train staff system. As the train passed certain points on the line, its position on the line was telegraphed down the line to the next station, which would duly make sure that the line was clear. It could also be used to telegraph on further down the line if the train was delayed, or for assistance if a breakdown had occurred, or to forward bills of lading if assistance was required loading/unloading freight at a particular station(ie livestock etc). Thus it was intended for use by the line owners for communication.

It was also realised that, with large numbers of passengers potentially being carried by the railway companies, that there was room to use these facilities for their passengers as well, allowing them to telegraph on down the line as to their arrival or other matters. However, this differed from the system used by the Tasmanian P.O and later the PMG Dept, where stamps were used to pay for telegrams and attached to telegram forms, then being cancelled by an office CDS to confirm office of origin and payment. Within the railway telegraph system used by the TGR and private railway companies such as the TML railway cash was used to prepay telegrams, which usually had to be called for but could be delivered at some of the larger stations; for an extra fee of course. No stamps and no telegram forms were used, negating the need for a CDS to verify the date and office of origin. Instead the telegram was pre paid for in cash, a form filled in with the message, office of origin and office of destination and the message sent. At the office of destination, the message was copied out onto a form, with the office of origin hand written in and passed or delivered to the recipient. On 1 March 1915, this all changed, but we will deal with this later.

Did these railway stations with railway telegraph offices attached have any need for any cancellers prior to 1915? Not a lot, but yes. Prior to this time the railways had a well defined system for the carriage of private parcels. Again, this involved pre payment in cash for the carriage of parcels from origin to destination. This required that a parcel label be attached to the parcel with the station of origin and station of destination written on the label. Filling in these by hand, as well as dealing with general correspondence/form as required, must have been a cumbersome system and because of this, many of the larger stations had straight line cancellers made with the station name. These were often applied to both the parcel labels and any forms etc in lieu of the station of origin name. These markings serve no postal or telegraphic significance at all. The use of parcel labels was discontinued with the introduction of railway parcel stamps in 1917.

Since the opening of the Launceston and Western railway in 1871, the railway system in Tasmania had undergone a very rapid expansion, with new lines being opened regularly from this time until the Great Depression in 1927 killed off growth that was never renewed due to the increasing use and availability of cars. This had been followed, naturally enough by a great increase in the RTO network. By way of example as to the new lines opened, witness the following timeline:

3.8.1872 TGR takes over running of Ltn and Western Railway and first RTO’s opened
1.11.1873 TGR buys Ltn and Western railway
18.10.1875 TML Railway opened completely Launceston to Hobart
13.5.1885 TML open Parratah to Oatlands branch
30.5.1885 TGR open Deloraine to Formby
2.8.1886 TGR open Fingal branch line to St Marys connecting to TML
1.9.1887 TGR open Derwent valley line to New Norfolk connecting to TML
27.7.1888 Derwent valley line extended to Glenora from New Norfolk
9.8.1889 TGR open NE line to Scottsdale
5.4.1890 TGR open Mole Creek branch line
8.7.1890 TGR open Formby to Ulverstone
1.10.1890 TGR purchase TML railway, having a rail monopoly at this stage changed only by opening of a number of private West Coast railways
23.4.1891 TGR open Apsley line
4.2.1892 TGR open Strahan to Zeehan line, connecting to Emu Bay Railway at Zeehan when Emu Bay extend their line to Zeehan on 21.12.1900
25.4.1892 Zeehan to Dundas line opened, first privately but quickly taken over by TGR
2.5.1892 Bellerive to Sorell line opened. This line was not connected to any other line
18.3.1897 Mt Lyell Co opens Queenstown to Regatta Point line as far as Teepookana
18.8.1898 NE Dundas Tramway opened by TGR
1.11.1899 Mt Lyell Company extend line to Regatta Point from Teepookana
16.10.1900 TGR extend Strahan Zeehan line to Regatta Point to link with Mt Lyell Rly
15.12.1900 Nth Mt Lyell Co open Queenstown to Pillinger line
15.4.1901 Ulverstone to Burnie opened by TGR
3.12.1901 Magnet tramway opened
6.3.1902 Comstock tramway opened
26.11.1902 North Mount Farrell tramway opened Farrell Junction to Tullah
20.12.1909 TGR extend Derwent valley line Glenora to Russell
16.8.1910 Griffith branch line opened
12.7.1911 TGR extend NE line from Scottsdale to Branxholm
1.2.1913 TGR extend line from Burnie to Wynyard
7.11.1914 Railton to Roland branch line opened
20.12.1915 Ulverstone to Nietta branch line opened
27.4.1916 Branch line opened Don-Paloona
2.10.1916 TGR extend Derwent Valley line from Russell to National Park
26.3.1917 Preolenna branch line opened
1.3 1918 TGR extend Derwent valley line from National park to Fitzgerald
15.3.1919 TGR extend NE line from Branxholm to Herrick
1.7.1919 Stanley to Irishtown Junction to Trowutta opened
14.10.1921 Irishtown Junction to Smithton opened
12.7.1923 Myalla Junction to Wiltshire opened
10.9.1923 Paloona branch line extended to Barrington
24.3.1925 Preolenna to Maweena branch opened

So, what happened on 1 March 1915, what were the new arrangements and how were offices at some stations elected for telegraph facilities and others ignored? Read on.


By the early 1900’s all across Australia, the majority of the railway system was in Government control. In Tasmania in many cases P.O’s had been operated by the TGR at railway stations for many years. In general, unless a P.O was at the railway station in question, the old system of pre payment of telegrams and use of TGR forms still continued. Early in 1915 a decision was made to bring the RTO’s under PMG control, with PMG systems in regards to sending telegrams, prepayment by use of stamps, cancelling of said stamps and use of telegram forms. The railway, of course, received a payment for carrying out this service. Of course, this necessitated an issue of a CDS to the offices concerned so the stamps that were affixed to the telegram form were identifiably cancelled and dated at the office or origin. This change was duly effected on 1st March 1915, with the effected offices not only receiving a canceller where one was not already in existence(such as P.O’s already at railway stations), but also receiving a stamp advance for the purposes of attaching to telegram forms. A list of offices that received a stamp advance at this time can be shown in the attachment.

Not all offices were issued a stamp advance. As a general rule, a railway office had to be attended to be issued with a stamp advance. Non attended offices would not generally have had an official that could effect the sending(or receiving) of the telegram, making the provision of facilities for the general public largely pointless. As the list in attachment A shows, all attended stations received a stamp advance with the exception of a few stations that were already open at the railway station as a P.O and did not require an extra stamp advance and two others, Strahan West and Silver Bell. In an amendment to the list given Eden is deleted and Silver Bell is substituted, leaving only Strahan West. Maybe this office was not given a stamp advance and therefore a CDS given it’s close proximity to Strahan and Strahan Wharf, as well as Regatta Point. Two offices were given a stamp advance that were not attended stations-Denison Gorge and Seabrook. Why this was I cannot know, however, both were popular holiday destinations and railway “day trip” tickets were issued to both. Maybe they wanted telegraph facilities at both locations in case of emergencies with large parties of people on site at one given time? However, when the list is later modified, we find that both of these as well as Oceana, which closed about this time and Rocherlea, which was slated to open as an RTO but never occurred, are not proceeded with.

I consider it likely that all these offices that were issued a stamp advance on 1 March 1915 that did not already have a CDS by virtue of being a P.O already at the railway station, were issued with a copy of the standard dating PMG style rubber canceller in use at the time(with the exception of some major offices who were issued with a steel CDS) for general issue to P.O, the Type R1. Of the offices opened at the time that received a stamp advance this is the break up:

Type R1 or similar era steel seen: Allens, Bridgewater(steel CDS), Burnie(steel CDS), Campbell Town(steel CDS, possibly this period possibly later), Devonport(a steel CDS, possibly this period, possibly later), Glenorchy, Hagley, Hobart(steel CDS), Latrobe, Launceston(steel CDS), Longford, Moonah, Myalla(already open as P.O but CDS provided at this time), New Town, Parratah, Penguin, Railton, Scottsdale, Sheffield, Sorell, St Mary’s, Tonganah, Ulverstone, Westbury, Wynyard and Zeehan (26 in total)

Already open as a P.O at the railway station, although later a separate RTO-no CDS issued at this time, if at all: Andover, Branxholm, Campania, Chudleigh, Claremont, Colebrook, Herrick, Legerwood, Lilydale, Macquarie Plains and New Norfolk(continued to use state period Type 1 CDS when P.O closed in 1917). (11 in total)

Type R1 likely but not seen: Avoca(*), Bellerive, Bishopsbourne(*), Brighton, Clarendon, Deloraine(*), Derwent Park(*), Evandale(*), Fingal, Flowerdale, Kempton, Mowbray Racecourse, Oatlands, Perth, Ross, Silver Bell, Somerset, St Leonard’s and Strahan Wharf (19 in total, but see note below as only 14 not seen at all)

(*) indicates that a later “straight line” or similar undated canceller seen on postage, not railway stamps, but not the original Type R1 canceller(5)

Did not open until after 1 March 1915: Smithton, Stanley(steel CDS known) (2 in total)

As can be seen, there are probably many of the early Type R1 CDS that may yet be discovered as evidence would seem to suggest that a CDS was issued to every office that received a stamp advance at this period. They were unquestionably issued for telegraph purposes only. Some offices, like many other T.O’s, did perform limited postal services when requested to do so, probably against regulations and have been seen postally used. Many others of these have only been seen on railway parcel stamps, which, upon their introduction in 1917, were expected to be cancelled. The TGR issued many straight line rubber cancellers to perform this function, but the telegraph office CDS were also often pressed into use, particularly prior to WW2, when the cancellers were still new and had not worn out. They were, however, intended for standard telegraphic service within the PMG. They are almost without fault very rare. Not surprising, when the volume of traffic outside of Hobart and Launceston was miniscule, and after WW2, almost non existent.

So, what happened after the March 1915 allocation of these CDS? To some extent these offices were then largely ignored, at least with CDS allocation. These were, of course, not the only cancellers at the offices. As discussed, the TGR already had a variety of straight line undated rubber cancellers and also a few brass “football” shaped undated metal cancellers at the stations to cancel railway parcel stamps. At times, these may be met with on stamps that have been either postally used or removed from telegram forms. They were used after the original ruber dated canceller had worn out with no replacement forthcoming or just for convenience since they were on hand. Other PMG issued cancellers were supplied after this date, but never again to all offices and generally speaking, only to major offices and/or offices that requested them. The only known post 1915 cancellers that have been seen are Launceston, Hobart, Latrobe, Devonport, Burnie, Campbell Town, Stanley and New Town. Parratah would be the only other possibility here I would think. All were major centres, with Parratah and Campbell Town being refreshment stations on the main line and Devonport and later Burnie refreshment stations on the Western Line.

The railway telegraph system, like the telegraph system in general started to decline rapidly after World War 2, killed off by a variety of factors, chief amongst which were the increase in domestic, public coin operated and business telephones, increase in availability of cars and a decline in railway usage. By 1958, the PMG were looking to close the majority of the RTO’s, which they were paying a fee to the TGR to operate but were bringing in very little business. Many were closed in 1958 with the end finally brought about on 30 Jun 1961 with a total closure of all RTO’s that were remaining across the state. Many had been closed years before. Such was the level of disinterest they were not even closed officially by PMG inspectors as per a normal T.O or P.O. The PMG simply wrote to the railway, who forwarded onto the station master in question a request for the return of all telegraph office materials, namely stamps and cancellers. Some of the replies make for interesting reading, with one station master saying he had been on site for 25 years and had never seen a CDS! Clearly, many of the offices had lost their CDS or had them worn out many years before, but they had never bothered to replace them.

I hope this goes some way towards clearing up some of the mysteries in regard to these offices. Attached is a list of the original stamp advances in 1915 and RTO’s known to have been open in Tasmania.

List of Railway Telegraph Offices

Office Attended Stn Stamp Allow1/3/15 Cancel Seen Notes
Allen’s Railway Y Y Y Later called Boat Harbour Station
Andover Railway N Y N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time, even though station itself was unattended.
Austral N N N
Avoca Railway Y Y N
Bellerive Railway Y Y N
Bishopsbourne Railway Y Y Y
Branxholm Railway Y Y N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Bridgewater Railway Y Y Y
Brighton Railway Y Y N
Burnie Railway Y Y Y
Campania Railway Y Y Y Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Campbell Town Railway Y Y Y
Chudleigh Railway Y Y N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Claremont Railway Y N N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Clarendon Y Y Y
Colebrook Railway Y N N P.O at railway station
Confidence Saddle N N N
Deloraine Railway Y Y Y
Denison Gorge N N N
Derwent Park Junction Y Y Y
Devonport Railway Y Y N
Eden N N N
Elwick Racecourse Y N Y
Evandale Railway Y Y Y
Fingal Railway Y Y N
Flowerdale Railway Y Y N
Glenorchy Railway Y Y Y
Golconda Railway N N N
Hagley Railway Y Y Y
Herrick Railway Y N N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Hobart Railway Y Y Y
Kapi N N N
Kempton Railway Y Y N
Latrobe Railway Y Y Y
Launceston Railway Y Y Y
Legerwood Railway Y N N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Lilydale Railway Y N N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Longford Railway Y Y Y
Macquarie Plains Railway Y N N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Moonah Railway Y Y Y
Mowbray Racecourse Y Y N
Myalla Railway Y N N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Nelsons Creek N N N
New Norfolk Railway Y N N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
New Town Railway Y Y Y
Nickel Junction N N N
Oatlands Railway Y Y N
Oceana Y N N
Parratah Railway Y Y Y
Penguin Railway Y Y Y
Perth Railway Y Y N
Railton Railway Y Y Y
Rocherlea Y N N
Ross Railway Y Y N
Scottsdale Railway Y Y Y
Seabrook N N N
Sheffield Railway Y Y Y
Silver Bell Y Y N
Smithton Railway Y N N RTO not open 1/3/15.
Somerset Railway Y Y N
Sorell Railway Y Y Y
St Leonards Railway Y Y N
St Mary’s Railway Y Y Y
Stanley Railway Y N N RTO not open 1/3/15.
Strahan West Y N N
Strahan Wharf Y Y N
Ulverstone Railway Y Y Y
Westbury Railway Y Y Y
Wynyard Railway Y Y Y
York Plains Railway Y N N Stamp advance to P.O which was at railway at the time
Zeehan Railway Y Y Y

Stamp Advance also listed to Austins Ferry, Cooee, Kentish, Lillico, Mole Creek, Rhyndaston, Staverton Railway and Tonganah Railway, all offices at the railway station

[bill]

This article by John Hardinge was published in The Courier, No. 52, pp.4-9, in slightly augmented form.

It throws some light on the use of parcel labels on private parcels by the railways that is seldom written
about. There is also a time line for the opening of new railways in Tasmania from 1872 up to 1925.

Parcels should be distinguished from newspapers that could be transferred by rail from late 1902 (probably
1 November, according to Dave Elsmore's website on railway and revenue stamps) by newsvendors under a
different set of regulations.

Elsmore's article in The Courier, No, 56, pp.23-24, tells us that parcel tickets could be affixed to parcels to
be carried by rail as from 1886. The fine print makes it clear that these tickets (actually adhesive stamps)
were only sold in quantities of least twelve. Hence, they would be used mainly by business or government
entities, not private individuals, who normally used parcel labels as described in Hardinge's article.