Issue date: 11 Jun, 2013
The commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the railway line Barcelona -Sarriá features in this Anniversaries issue.
The railway line from Barcelona to Sarriá was built as a means of suburban transport to enable the people of Barcelona to travel the countryside. The concession to the construction company, Ferrocarriles de Cataluña, was awarded in July 1856 and shortly afterwards works began to bring together the two towns which were less than five kilometres apart.
The opening of the line took place on June 23, 1863. The train left from the Plaza de Cataluña and ran parallel to one of the main streets causing several accidents which led to a change in the line coinciding with the development of Barcelona and its Metropolitan area. New stations and stops were built, the rail gauge changed to the international one and in 1905 steam was discarded and replaced by electricity. In the following decades the line expanded to Terrassa and Sabadell. From 1925 to 1929 the line running along the urban area was built underground. In 1954 it was extended to the Tibidabo. In 1979, with the creation of the Railways of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the infrastructures and trains were modernized. Currently it is used by over 60 million passengers every year.
The stamp depicts an old photograph of steam engine No. 5, corresponding to the first of its series in service. It was discarded in 1905 with the use of electricity and the change in the rail gauge. They were manufactured by the British firm Sharp & Stewart.
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