Railway Centenary --- Right from the poetries of Tagore and the steely resolve of the Mahatma, through the canvasses of Satyajit Ray and to the great escape of Netaji, trains have always assumed the role of chief protagonist. From the restless younger days to the monotonous daily routine, from journey with family by "railgari" to the business trips by Duronto, from early days of black clouds of steam to the overhead cables and pantographs... 'Railways' have become the lifeline for most of us. Be it an early steam or the modern day electrics, be it a crawling container rakes or a Shatabdi whisking away, trains have caught the imagination of the entire nation. And to brief, Indian Railways is one of the world's largest railway networks comprising of 65,000 km routelength over a tracklength of 115,000 km with over 7,500 stations. As of now, IR holds over 229,400 Freight Wagons, 9,750 Passenger Coaches and over 9,600 Locomotives. IR carries about 7,500 million passengers annually i.e. more than 20 million passengers daily and 2.8 million tons of freight daily. But Indian Railways is not all about numbers. It accompanies with it a rich heritage of over 160 years. In 1953 nation witnessed the 100th anniversary of India's first train journey dates back to April 1853. IndiaPost tried to capture the spirit by issuing a commemorative stamp on the occasion. The stamp decpicts the oldest running steam loco 'The Fairy Queen' & also the then widely used broad-gauge steam loco 1947 make WP prototypes manufactured by Baldwin Locomotive Works, Philadelphia with 4-6-2 wheel arrangement. Stamp issued in April 1953 with denomination 2 annas.