Belgian Railway Stamps

Most collectors have seen the various "etiquettes" (labels) attached to the way bills that denote fragile, fish, fruits, etc. Some stations use hand stamps instead of labels and this is one of my favorite examples. "LEVEND DIER" (LIVE ANIMALS)

Stationcancels, this looks amazing! Thank you for sharing; I did not know of this practice, and will now keep an eye out.

(not mine)

vayolene, that is a lovely example with both the label and the hand stamp used together. Thank you for sharing!

A friend of mine asked me today why a parcel of fish would be shipped by a poison company. At first, I laughed, thinking he was joking, but he was serious. Thus is the reason for my post today. Poissons is the French word for pisces or fish. I can see where he easily confused this. I strongly encourage all Belgian Railway collectors to actively use Google Translate and study common Flemish and French terms as they apply to parcels and shipping. To help with this, my old album has a translation list of common terms used on cancels and my next edition will include an expanded list to cover terms common on waybills and in industry. Pictured is the waybill he questioned.

Flemish is a Dutch dialect. The official language is Dutch.

I've been hunting a MARIENBOURG cancel for a long time and just picked this one up today. It was a nice surprise to find both the No.1 and No. 2 devices used on the same waybill.

Here is another good example of a hand stamp being used in place of a label/etiquette. Pictured are two versions of "fragile."

Interesting address on that last one. I, once, spent a few days in Brussels. My hotel was on Bergense Steenweg in Anderlecht.

NSK, that is one of my favorite things about the waybills and cancels. I love finding pieces from places and stations I've visited.

Two crisp and clear MOUSCRON cancels that show the empty bottom block where the bi-lingual bottom line "MOESKROEN" was removed and left blank.

I am loving the renewed discussion, images and explanations on this thread. This is helping me to better understand the uses of the bottom block. I have a few strikes from Mouscron that I am now going to have to check on. Keep them coming!

I have been searching for this specific variation of Anvers Dam for decades. I don't know if it's really that uncommon but for me it was that elusive. I found it today in a very inexpensive random lot of cancels. Such a nice surprise.

Another new one for me that was in the same batch.

Although I started out as a stamp collector, I have become more of a cancel and document collector. Some of these larger cancels just don't show up very well on a single stamp, but are really bold and clear on a document. Shown are two chamfered rectangle cancels with very tiny chamfers at the bottom. They are often mistaken for standard rectangles.