The many trains arriving on 19 February at Platform 1 are from Hornby.

2017 Meccano stamp

This set is all about Hornby Model Railways, perhaps hitching up to last year's Railway 200 celebration of the bicentenary of real railways.  

Odd then, that the set marks the 125th anniversary of the company founded by Frank Hornby in 1901, "Hornby Hobbies", to sell his Meccano constructon toy. According to Wikipedia until 1907 the company produced under the name of Mechanics made easy which is what Meccano was doing.

The first clockwork train was not produced until 1920.  but I suppose trains on stamps have more appeal than construction models?

From Royal Mail 

The clockwork trains were followed by electric models and the iconic Hornby Dublo range in 1938. 

These innovations transformed model railways into a cherished pastime, inspiring creativity and technical skills across generations. 

Hornby’s story reflects Britain’s engineering heritage and evolving social trends—from childhood play to adult collecting and nostalgia. Despite wartime interruptions and industry challenges, Hornby adapted with new technologies, from realistic detailing to digital control systems, ensuring its continued relevance. Today, Hornby remains a leading name in model railways, celebrated for craftsmanship and authenticity. 

This stamp issue honours a brand that has entertained millions, preserved the romance of rail travel, and become a cultural icon of British design and imagination. 

The stamps 

Set of 8 x 1st class stamps honouring the Hornby brand name issued 19 February 2026.

The set consists if eight 1st Class stamps
GNR No.1 Locomotive (1920) – The original clockwork classic that started it all.
BR 4MT Tank Locomotive (1954) – A post-war favourite from the Hornby Dublo era.
InterCity 125 High Speed Train (1977) – A symbol of speed and innovation.
Bournemouth Belle Pullman Cars (2009) – Luxury in miniature detail.
Princess Elizabeth, LMS (1937) – A majestic pre- war express engine.
AL1 Electric Locomotive (1963) – Capturing the modernisation of British Railways.
Merchant Navy Class (2000) – Heralding Hornby’s new era of authenticity.
‘Hush-Hush’ Experimental Locomotive (2021) – A tribute to engineering ambition.

The Miniature Sheet consists of four 1st class stamps

Miniature Sheet of 4 x 1st class stamps honouring the Hornby brand name issued 19 February 2026.

Hornby Book of Trains – A tribute to the early catalogues that inspired generations of young enthusiasts.
Hornby Dublo Electric Trains – Showcasing the revolutionary 1930s range that brought realism to miniature railways.
Tri-ang Railways Era – Capturing the bold advertising and colourful packaging of the 1960s and 70s.
Modern Classics – Featuring InterCity branding and contemporary designs that reflect Hornby’s evolution 

Technical details and acknowledgements

The 41 x 30 mm gummed stamps were printed by Cartor Security Printers in litho in sheets of 60 in se-tenant pairs, perf 14½x14.  The 192 x 74 mm miniature sheet contains stamps 60 x 30 mm perf 14½.

2017 Hornby Dublo stamp

Designed by The Chase.  HORNBY®, Hornby Railways, Tri-ang Hornby, Tri-ang, Hornby Dublo and Minic are Registered Trade Marks of Hornby Hobbies Ltd, and are used under licence by Royal Mail Group Ltd; images © Hornby Hobbies Limited, except image of two boys on the Dublo stamp: detail from Hornby Dublo box label © M&N/Alamy Stock Photo.

Products available

Set of 8 stamps, miniature sheet, presentation pack, first day covers (2), press sheet of 10 miniature sheets, (Inter-City 125) medal cover, stamp set and miniature sheet in one frame.

So, with yet another branded stamp issue, will Hornby derail the hobby or just some collectors? 

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Lord of The Rings - again but different - 20 March 2026

The 2004 Royal Mail issue related to the Lord of the Rings marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first books in the series. Consequently they focussed on the books and showed the author'sdrawings illustrating locations in the books.  This set, incidentally, was one of many consisting of 10 x 1st class.

2004 set of 10 x 1st class Lord of the Rings stamps.

Now, it's 25 years since The Fellowshop of the Ring hit a screen near you bringing New Zealand director Peter Jackson to our notice - not his first film, but the series which has featured most on stamps, notably those of New Zealand. 

Selection of New Zealand Lord of the Rings stamps depicting Frodo, Gandalf, Aragon and Legolas.

New Zealand Post has issued several sets of LOTR stamps.  How will Royal Mail's stamps compare?  Time will tell, and they will be revealed around 11 March.

(Incidentally, in each of NZ Post's LOTR issues they had six gummed stamps, the same six stamps in individual miniature sheets, the same six stamps in a single self-adhesive miniature sheet, and a self-adhesive folded booklet containing four of the lowest value, two of one other, and one each of the rest. There are also official maximum cards which had a stamp stuck to the picture side and postmarked, and also printed in black & white on the address side; the cards are thus prepaid for posting to anywhere in the world.)

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Microprinting is back - and has been for some time.

Royal Mail has used microprinting in the past to 'hide' the year of issue in many of its special stamps - those printed in litho being more common than gravure.  But this stopped a few years ago.

But the Modern British Philatelic Circle has discovered that each litho- printed stamp in the 2025 Queen Victoria set has had a hidden micro-printed ‘2516’ (16th issue of 2025) added within the stamp.  I wasn't aware of this as I don't read all the MBPC very often, but here is a 2400 dpi scan of one of the Stranger Things miniature sheet stamps (2601).  

2601 microprint on Stranger Things miniature sheet

Gibbons Stamp Monthly later announced similar date codes have appeared since the Valour and Victory set.  

I understand this is always printed in black so some will be easier to see than others. I have found the printing on all the Concorde MS stamps, and some of the sheet stamps.  (Also six of the Hornby stamps and all of the roses; the latter have a white background making the task much easier.)

See if you can find them on the stamps already issued (starting with the Valour and Victory issue).

 

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Slogan Postmarks for February 2026 - and other postal markings

February should start (as January ended) with the default British Heart Foundation slogan, but I have reliable information that it will change very soon to the BHF Revivr slogan similar to last year's. This will likely be interrupted by National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) which this year runs from 9-15 February, so we can expect the slogan to approximately follow those dates.  But will we get anything for St Valentine's Day?

While I have nothing yet to show you, this at least puts readers on alert for a new slogan this week, another one next week, and then a reversion to this week's the week after that.  Hopefully Sheffield Mail Centre will fall into line.

UPDATE 6 February.  By chance the first example of the Revivr slogan is from Sheffield!  Thanks LT for this one dated 03/02/2026.

British Heart Foundation RevivR slogan Sheffield Mail Centre 03/02/20226

UPDATE:

The slogan actually started on 2nd February and ran until 6th, but will return. Thanks to JE for this example from Bristol.

And here, thanks to RW is the alternative layout from Norwich, although unfortunately not clear.

British Heart Foundation RevivR slogan Norwich Mail Centre 03/02/20226 (digitally adjusted)

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UPDATE 11 February 2026 - National Apprenticeship Week returns with a slightly different slogan.

Royal Mail supports
National
Apprenticeship Week
9 - 15 February
careers.royalmailgroup.com

In previous years the last line has had the URL of nationalapprenticshipweek.co.uk, but as you can see this year Royal Mail are promoting their own apprenticeship efforts.  JE provided this example from Bristol for 9th February (the campaign started on 7th).

National Apprenticeship Week slogan Bristol Mail Centre 09/02/2026

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Other postmarks and postal markings, etc

1. The first example this month repeats the Apprenticeship week slogan from above.  JE sent a stack of four examples all posted by the same person in a weekly batch.  

The large number at the foot of the postmark shows the first two are consecutive with the added novelty of each using a different monarch's stamp.

"Then ... and entering proper nerd territory :-) ... the number changes from 1144202784 at 20:37:02 to 1144202840 at 20:37:09. They all come from the same person in one batch (they post out once a week), so assume all cancelled on the same machine which therefore seems to process around 8 letters per second, give or take. "  

That equates to 28,800 per hour, or approximately the 30,000 that Royal Mail laud as the capability of these machines. It's not often we get the opportunity to see this amount of detail unless we have access to the mail centre!

Four covers from one batch of posting showing consecutive numbers on two, and demonstrating the speed of processing letters through the machine.

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St. Valentine's Day  Apprenticeship Week gets in the way of Royal Mail helping out the greetings card industry with a special slogan, but RW has sent this example of a slogan that the US Postal Service is using.  They also issue Love stamps every year (which may be something we don't want to encourage) and notecards.  

2026 USPS Love stamps and notecards

2026 USPS Love stamps slogan, used at Seattle.

 

 

 

 

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Remember, slogan postmarks appearing in February will be added to this post, so check here before you spend time scanning and emailing.

A reminder of what these monthly listings are for.  

For each month I record the different slogans in use, plus the default slogan that is used when there is nothing else.

For each of these I try to record only one of each of the basic two types, plus any that are reversed on square envelopes, which normally only gives three or four.  

Occasionally a slogan appears with different line spacing in the same format. 

I do not record multiple versions of the same as any of these unless I later get a much better example of one that I showed purely for the record, but which is otherwise not very clear.

The only exception to this, which doesn't seem to happen much these days, is when a slogan is used well out of time, such as the Air Ambulance Week slogan below which is from September 2024!  

I mention this only to avoid readers unnecessarily duplicating what has already been provided.

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Update on the 1st Large Business Sheet - and other new products

The King Charles 1st class Large Business Sheet - missing from the original printings of business sheets and first reported here - will have an official distribution on 20 March - along with several other 'new' products which have the new font (and presumably the new crown).

Royal Mail have said that these will have a 'first day of (philatelic) availability' although some have been available in Post Offices and other retailers over recent months.

These are not all available yet from Tallents House, so there is no point in phoning for them!

Full list - product codes will be provided later:

Business Sheets:  1st class, 2nd class, and 1st class Large

Booklets:  4 x 1st, 4 x 1st Large, 8 x 2nd. 
 

More details when available.

UPDATE 3 February

Royal Mail have said that this is simply a font change, but Robert writes:

"Seems likely to me the Textphone info is the real visible change here as most of these items have already appeared with the 2025 Rebrand." 

As John H confirmed:

"the Textphone info was present on the 8x Christmas booklets, but dropped on the 4x. " 

Here is an earlier 2nd class booklet, followed by the Christmas 1st class x4 and x8 without the Textphone line showing all the changes. (Thanks to Robert and John H).

Original back cover showing dimensions for which the stamps are valid, phone & textphone numbers and website

Book of 8 Christmas cover showing phone & textphone numbers, website, QR code for last posting dates and URL for postcode finder

Book of 4 Christmas cover which has dropped the textphone number and provided the Relay UK number for deaf, hearing or speech impaired users.  The phone number and website are retained, and the QR code for last posting dates and URL for postcode finder on the book of 8 continue.

If that's the only change it remains to be seen whether Stanley Gibbons will identify these by a separate number or sub-number.  But As there is much more too it than simply the removal of the Textphone number, it seems that this should qualify for a new catalogue sub-number.  

Whether the Validity (size) details return on the post-Christmas definitive booklets produced in 2026 remains to be seen.

Back in 2019 I reported that when the Printer's imprint was removed and the FSC logo was added these were both identified in the Concise.  But when the phone numbers changed from 0845 to 0345 this was consigned to a footnote, even though collectors usually wanted both.  So because of this inconsistency, we will have to wait and see!  I think the difference is enough to warrant a new catalogue number.

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Machin Definitive first day cover offers at reduced prices.

Some collectors collect first day covers (FDCs) because they are attractive with a cover design which complements the stamps.  Others collect because they are also a reminder of the date the stamps were issued, and in the case of definitives it helps to identify different versions of the same stamp when comparison of mint stamps might be more difficult.

Official first day covers have been produced for basic new definitives and for prestige book definitive panes (usually the only panes they provide on first day covers).

But there are variants for which there is no official FDC, because Royal Mail do not regard the stamp as new.

FDC for new 1st class security stamp
from Olympic retail booklet

When we started producing FDCs we tried to fill those gaps, not with especially designed covers but in the main with the covers that Royal Mail produced for the issue. We generally used standard definitive covers for definitive variants, or the cover produced for a special stamp issue, such as a retail or prestige booklet.

Recognising that the PSB panes often contained duplicates or stamps which were not new, we gave our customers a cheaper option than Royal Mail by using just singles of the new stamps in the panes.

Reviewing our stock of Definitive FDCs I find that there are some which never made it to our web-shop, and have only ever been offered at the time of issue on our website, and those which were are now offered at lower clearance prices.  I hope there will be some of interest to more recent followers of the blog and long-time readers.

The list is a pdf file which will remain listed in the Links table to the right of this page. A separate file, linked from that one, has illustrations of some of the covers, and scans can be provided for any others.

Because it's a pdf file you cannot leave comments there, so please follow the usual pattern and leave a comment here for any covers that you want.  As usual, there are several of some, and only one in stock for many.

To order:

- please leave a comment here with your name, and then 

- send an email with your Name and Address and Blog Follower ID to my usual address - see top right.  And indicate which item you want (A, B, etc) in case more than one is available.  Please check the existing comments before you write.   

I will process requests in the order they are received but not always immediately - I am not checking every five minutes!   If other people have already asked, by all means put your name down, but we have very low stock of some of these covers.

Thank you for looking - further discounts for larger orders.

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Concorde 50th anniversary - set and miniature sheet 21 January 2026.

The aircraft which has appeared on most British stamps is almost certainly the Concorde supersonic airliner. 

Since its first flight in 1969 Concorde has appeared on several other stamps - I haven't counted, but it's probably ahead of the Spitfire (and I don't count the Red Arrows flight as nine planes on one stamp!) 

Now on the 50th anniversary of the first commercial flghts from London and Paris to Bahrain and Rio de Janeiro respectively Royal Mail is issuing a set and miniature sheet, the latter paying homage to the original issues in 1969.

Royal Mail write-up

On 21st January 1976, Concorde flew simultaneous flights from Heathrow to Bahrain by British Airways and from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Rio by Air France, with each aircraft taking off from Heathrow and Paris at precisely the same time 11.40am. The supersonic plane became the icon of the 1970s with an aim to beat the barriers of time and space and to connect a much smaller, faster and globalized world. 

Those passengers were the first to see the curvature of the Earth below them and the sky turning from blue to black above. Over the next 27 years, millions more were to experience ‘time travel’, arriving in New York at a local time an hour or so earlier than their departure time in London. 

Its supersonic speed meant that on certain early evening transatlantic flights departing from Heathrow or Paris, it was possible to take off just after sunset and catch up with the sun, landing in daylight. This was much publicised by British Airways, who used the slogan “Arrive before you leave.” 

Whilst Concorde no longer takes to the air, even fifty years later, Concorde remains a technical marvel and a much-loved icon of civil aviation. 

The stamps 

50th Anniversary of Concorde set of 8 x 1st class stamps issued 21 January 2026

8 x 1st Class stamps
British Pre-Production Concorde Rolled Out, 1971; British Pre-Production Concorde In Flight, 1974;  Concorde’s First British Airways Livery, 1974; Concorde’s First UK Commercial Flight, 1976;  Concorde Flying Overhead, 1985;  Celebrating 10 Years of Service, 1985; Concorde’s Last British Airways Livery, 1997; Final Commercial Flight 2003.

Technical details 

The 50 x 30 mm stamps, designed by Common Curiosity, were printed in litho on gummed paper by Cartor Security Printers in four sheets of 60 in se-tenant pairs, perforated 14.  Acknowledgements: The Concorde aircraft, name and associated trademarks are used under licence with kind permission of Airbus and British Airways. AIRBUS and Concorde are protected trademarks of Airbus. All rights reserved.  British pre-production Concorde rolled out, photograph © Victor Drees/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; British pre-production Concorde in flight, photograph by Ken Petitt © The British Airliner Collection; Concorde’s last British Airways livery, photograph © John M Dibbs; all other photographs © Adrian Meredith Photography

Miniature Sheet

50th Anniversary of Concorde miniature sheet of 4 x 1st class stamps issued 21 January 2026

The 192 x 74 mm miniature sheet, containing stamps 50 x 30 mm, was also designed by Common Curiosity, featuring original designs by Michael and Sylvia Goaman and David Gentleman, based on early Concorde models and prototypes.  Printed by Cartor Security Printers in litho on gummed paper. Images © Royal Mail Group Ltd 2026.

Collectors Sheet

All eight sheet stamps from the Concorde issue are presented alongside labels with additional imagery all set on top of the striking image of 4 of the aircraft in the air. This image was taken on Christmas Eve, 1985, when British Airways organized a unique formation flight with four Concorde aircraft to celebrate 10 years of passenger service.   The Collector Sheet is printed on self-adhesive paper of course which is different from the set.

50th Anniversary of Concorde collectors sheet of 8 x 1st class stamps issued 21 January 2026

Products Available

Set of 8, miniature sheet, presentation pack, collectors sheet, first day covers (2), stamp cards (13),  press sheet of 10 miniature sheets, coin covers (3), framed miniature sheet, framed collectors sheet.

A selection of earlier Concorde stamps on maximum cards

.

These stamps are reported to have been on sale last week, ie around 10th January.

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One-off offers are back!

After a longer-than-expected delay I have now been able to add some more (mostly) one-off covers, stamps, ephemera for your consideration.  These are on a new page linked in the column on the right.

(Incidentally you may notice a slight reordering of the sections on the right; this is just to bring the Offers list nearer the top.)

Here are some of the new items offered, click on the link above to get to the details and don't forget in most cases you can click on the images to enlarge them. 

And there's more items, together with all the unsolds from previous weeks.  Happy browsing!

 

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Surprise new service and prices from 1 January 2026

Unexpectedly - and not announced to business users via the usual email or letter - Royal Mail have issued another 'Our Prices' leaflet from 5 January 2026. (Download it here.)

Strictly speaking there are no tariff changes, ie no prices have changed, but some services have changed including the elimination of 'International Signed".  Only International Tracked and Signed and International Tracked remain.

Summary

International Tracked and Signed is now for Documents only, and only up to 750g (ie no parcel rates).

International Tracked is for Goods, including gifts, and Documents may be sent but a Customs Declaration must be completed.  There is no (basic) letter rate; the cheapest option is for 100g Large Letters.

Printed Papers have been moved to a new section and include rates for International Tracked, International Standard (basic airmail) for which there is also no basic latter rate (minimum price for 250g is £8.95 to Europe), and ( listed in that order) International Tracked and Signed (again, no letter rates so minimum price £14.25) but including weight options for 1kg to 5kg.

I'm working from a pdf rather than hard copy, which makes comparison difficult, but I could almost believe there are copy & paste errors in this.  Why no Small Parcel rates for ITS unless they are printed papers?  Why no Large Letter rates for printed papers under 250g?

I'll leave this for readers to pursue safe in the knowledge that only the dealers and collector-sellers will be affected!

 

 

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Datamatrix codes - they could do so much more.

Regular readers will remember that when the Datamatrix-added stamps were trialled, 

"Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer at Royal Mail, said: 'This initiative will see Royal Mail become one of the first postal authorities in the world to add unique barcodes to stamps. By doing this, we are looking to transform the humble stamp so that we can offer our customers even more convenient, new services in the future."

(See 2nd class Machin with datamatrix added)

Then...

"Following a successful national trial we will now be adding unique barcodes to all our regular ‘everyday’ Definitive and Christmas stamps. Each barcoded stamp will have a digital twin and the two will be connected by the Royal Mail App. The unique barcodes will facilitate operational efficiencies, enable the introduction of added security features and pave the way for innovative services for our customers. 

"The new barcoded stamps enable you to watch and share an exclusive Shaun the Sheep video via the barcode itself using the Royal Mail App. You or the recipient can watch the video just by scanning the stamp barcode using our App. More videos will be added over the coming months."

But apart from Shaun the Sheep, what additional innovative services have been added?  None as far as I am aware.

But one of the other first postal authorities in the world to add unique barcodes to stamps, Germany, has developed their barcodes to provide more detail, as I found out when a reader in Germany sent me a Christmas postcard.

Scanning the barcode with an ordinary QI reader produces very little information.

Postcard posted from Munich Germany 15 December 2025.

This is what the sender wrote:

The Deutsche Post stamp barcode base tracking isn’t even that detailed (only the fact that the letter has passed intermediate and final sorting centres), but it’s appreciated. It would probably be easy for RM to implement the same if they decided to.

Interestingly, while there are 2 stamps making up the airmail value, there’s only 1 piececode associated with them. I found this out when I scanned them in the app. During the purchase, the postal clerk scanned both stamps’ barcodes & did some inputs into their computer.

This is what the Deutsche Post website shows (they have an English option). 

Further information about 'Basic Tracking':

What is basic letter tracking?

Basic tracking documents the processing of your mail item at the origin and destination mail centers. Confirmation of actual delivery is not included in basic tracking.

I assume that if the card had been sent to a domestic address then the latest entry would show the 'final sorting centre' as the one that delivered to the addressee.  Being international with no link with Royal Mail, Cologne West was as far as it is recorded.

The extra effort of scanning and (presumably) putting the address into the system at Post Office branches would probably require additional payment from Royal Mail to Post Office Ltd, and hence to the postmaster.  However, it would bring extra footfall into the branches which might be additional benefit. 

A benefit for collectors and anybody who is interested in the stamp on their letter/card is found by clicking on 'More about this motif' which produces this very useful dropdown:

The data shows the size of the stamp, and of the image on it, the date of issue and the face value, the description of the issue (in this case permanent series or definitive) and the name of the designer (Bettina Walter).  

The last line, More information, describes why datamatrix-coded stamps have been issued and provides a YouTube video showing how you can track the progress of an ordinary letter even when it is dropped into a street postbox.  The letter is scanned in the DP app, and then you can give it an identity (card to Norvic) and then track it through the system.  It would be possible to tell the addressee when it was at the final delivery office.

Not shown on the picture above is a further line which translates as 'More information about the stamp'.  Clicking on that, and then translating with Google Translate produces a wealth of information about these pictorial definitives:

Permanent series "World of Letters - Airmail"

Artistically, imaginatively, surreal - this is how the motifs of the new postage stamp series "World of Letters" can be described in a nutshell. In a playful way, she combines the most diverse worlds of life with the letter, the most personal ambassador in the world, and creates an original overall picture that invites you to collect and brings the desire to write to new life.

The possibilities of messaging are diverse and have a long history. Also "Luftpost", the motif of the new postage stamp of the series "World of Letters", is older than some may believe. For millennia, the pigeon served as a postman until the French brothers Montgolfier in the 18th. century a hot air balloon, the so-called Montgolfière, developed. From now on, man could lift himself up into the air. However, the breakthrough of the airmail was achieved with the invention of the aircraft. On the 17. December 1903 the world's first motorized flight took place. The Wright brothers did not have letters in their luggage that day, but already in 1911, as part of an exhibition in the Indian Allahabad, letters and postcards were officially transported in a biplane for the first time. With the permission of the Reich Post Office, a plane was used for the first time in Germany for the first time in 1912 at the postcard week "Flugpost am Rhein und am Main".

A particular interest in airmail receipts are stamp collectors who are committed to aerophilately. The stamps and stamps used are of importance here, but also the circumstances - for example, rescued mail items from accidental aircraft are sought after. The crowning achievement of such a collection, however, is the "Inverted Jenny," an American stamp misprint from 1918, in which the pictured double-decker Curtiss JN-4 was printed with the nickname "Jenny" traffic. With only a hundred known copies, the misprint of the first U.S. airmail brand is a valuable rarity. 

I haven't taken the trouble to edit the errors in the translation as most people will understand the meaning.

Obviously with Royal Mail only applying datamatrix codes to definitive and Christmas stamps the scope is far more limited, but imagine how much information the could have provided to people who were interested in these six cathedrals (or at least the five that people might have had on their cards).

Christmas 2024 miniature sheet showing Cathedrals.

 What do you think?

  

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