About This Stamp
More than simply places to buy tickets and wait for a train, railroad stations exude history, romance, and the optimism associated with forward motion. Noteworthy railroad stations began brightening the American landscape by the 1870s and, although many fell to the wrecking ball once they had outlived their original purpose, hundreds survived. This issuance features five architectural gems that continue to play an important role in their community.
Each stamp in the pane of 20 is an illustration of a single station: the 1874 Tamaqua Station in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania; the 1875 Point of Rocks Station in Point of Rocks, Maryland; the 1901 Main Street Station in Richmond, Virginia; the 1918 Santa Fe Station in San Bernardino, California; or the 1933 Union Terminal in Cincinnati, Ohio. The pane resembles a page in an old-fashioned photo album, with the title “Historic Railroad Stations of the United States” and drawings of a train and a one-ride ticket in the header.
Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, railroads were the only practical means of traveling over any significant distances in the United States. The first purpose-built station buildings went up in the early 1830s. A station often was designed to advertise the importance of the surrounding community, along with the power and prestige of the railroad company serving it. In many smaller towns, the railroad station was the focal point of the community’s life, and the local agent was one of its more important citizens.
Derry Noyes was the art director for the project. Down the Street Designs was responsible for the digital illustrations, typography, and overall design of the pane.
The Railroad Stations stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.
Stamp Art Director
Derry Noyes
For more than 40 years Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for close to 800 United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University.
Noyes worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by American Illustration, the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, Graphis, Creativity International, and the Society of Illustrators.
Before becoming an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981 to 1983.
Noyes is a resident of Washington, D.C.
Stamp Designer, Stamp Artist
Down the Street Designs
Down the Street Designs is a two-person studio, based in Los Angeles, California, that specializes in illustration and animation.
Colin Ozawa, Paul Zappia, and Remo Bangayan met in the B.F.A. Graphic Design program at California State University, Long Beach. While still in school they collaborated on their first projects, animated music videos.
In early 2014, Ozawa and Zappia founded Down the Street Designs, so named because they lived down the street from each other. Bangayan had gone to work as a motion designer with a company called Column Five Media, but in 2017, he rejoined his friends at Down the Street. Ozawa left the firm in early 2023 to pursue 3D animation and art direction.
The firm’s many clients include ESPN, Geico, Google, and Jameson. Down the Street won a 2018 Communication Arts Illustration Award.
The stamp art for the 2023 Railroad Stations issuance is Down the Street's first project for the U.S. Postal Service.