RAMANUJAN 1929

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aukepalmhof
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Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

RAMANUJAN 1929

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed Feb 07, 2018 12:45 am

World Post Day
The beginning of post offices in Sri Lanka goes back to the Dutch period in 1787. The post office system which commenced with five post offices in the coastal areas has to day evolved into a system consisting of 641 post offices and 3681 Sub Post Offices.
Letters, parcels and other postal items received by a Post Office are transported to their respective destinations by Postmen, motor vehicles, aero planes and trains.
In the past postal items were transported from one Post Office to another Post Office and also to household residents through Postmen who walked on foot. Subsequently horse carriages were used for that purpose. In Asia it was in Sri Lanka where horse carriages were used for the first time for mail transport.
Horse carriages, motor vehicles, aero planes and trains were used for delivery of mail without delay.
Postal transport by train was started in 1865.That was from Colombo to Ambepussa. Between Ambepussa and Kandy mail was transported using horse carriages and with the commencement of train services between Ambepussa and Kandy in 1867, postal items were transported from Colombo to Kandy by train.
For the first time a mobile post office was started on April 11, 1892 using passenger transport railway compartments where it was possible to sort out letters there itself. This Travelling Post Office facility which was initiated from the hill country was subsequently expanded to other areas such as the southern, north-western, eastern and the northern provinces as well. Today the Travelling Post Offices are in operation as those of Colombo – Badulla, Colombo – Galle and Colombo – Jaffna.
Train service was mainly used for the interior transport of mail and the railway line from Medavachchiya to Thalaimannar can be considered as a unique travelling postal transport route of this service. Postal goods transported to Thalaimannar via Medavachchiya from Colombo were transported by it up to Madras in India. Postal goods brought from Colombo to Thalaimannar via Medavachchiya were unloaded at the Thalaimannar Naval Dockyard. Thereafter, passengers and postal goods were transported by sea from Thalaimannar to Danushkodi in India by ships belonging to the British – India Stem Navigation Company (BISNC) which came from Danushkodi.
Postal goods of Sri Lanka which were unloaded at Danushkodi were transported from there to Madras by the Indian train which used to call at that port. This Indo – Sri Lanka Traveling Post Office commenced on March 01, 1914 was used for the transport of passengers and postal goods between the two countries.

http://www.stamps.gov.lk/929.php

The Boat Mail Train aka the Indo-Ceylon Express
In the 1950s, there was much traffic between India and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) by land and sea. The Boat Mail train, aka the Indo-Ceylon Express plied between Chennai (then Madras) and Dhanushkodi on the Bay of Bengal. It took almost 19 hours to complete the journey of 675 kilometers.
After the Boat Mail train reached Dhanushkodi Pier at 15:05 hours in the afternoon, the passengers after alighting from the train crossed the Palk Strait using the steamer ferry service from Dhanushkodi Pier to Talaimannar Pier in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The ferry steamer used to leave the Indian shore soon after 16:00 hours. It took about 3½ hours for the crossing.
The era of the Boat Mail came to an end after a cyclonic storm with high-speed winds, and high tidal waves struck South India and northern Ceylon between December 22 and 25, 1964. The entire town of Dhanushkodi was completely submerged with heavy casualties. The railway line running from Pamban Station to Dhanushkodi Pier was destroyed, and a passenger train with over 100 passengers drowned in the sea.
Years later, the name of the train changed from Indo-Ceylon Express to Rameswaram Express.
https://tvaraj.com/tag/chennai/page/2/

After some searching I found that the ferry used in 1955 between Talaimannar in Ceylon and Rameswarum in India was the RAMANUJAN, and she is depict on the stamp alongside the pier in Talaimannar.

She was built as a passenger-cargo vessel under yard No 859m by D&W Henderson & Co., at the Meadowside yard, Glasgow for the South India Railway Co. Ltd., Glasgow.
10 June 1929 launched as the IRWIN.
Tonnage 970 grt, 377 nrt, dim, 76.2 x 11.61 x 3.47m.
Powered by two steam turbines manufactured by Yarrow & Co. Ltd., Glasgow, 353 nhp. Speed 10 knots.
02 September 1929 completed.

1948 Transferred to the Southern Railway, Madras, India not renamed.
1965 Transferred to the Shipping Corp. of India Ltd., Madras not renamed.
1972 Renamed by the company in RAMANUJAN.
09 June 1987 work commenced scrapping by Shri Ram Shipbreakers in Bombay, India.

Source http://www.miramarshipindex.nz http://www.clydeships.co.uk/view.php?of ... ssel=IRWIN
Sri Lanka 2017 15.00P sg?, scott? and a miniature sheet.

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Attachments
Irwin.jpg
talaimannar ferry.jpg
2017 ramanujan MS.png
2017 ramanujan.png

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