Transport – Global Postcard Sales

Total: 35 postcards

Malaysia Airlines lounge pass
In 1992 a fire at Subang Airport in Kuala Lumpur disrupted operations. This lounge card was issued to passengers who would have been entitled to use the Golden Lounge otherwise. The reverse has a purple “chop” from MAS, signed, verifying the holder’s eligibility. Grade: 1

Code: 30200213
Price: $4.00
Thai Airways – Do Not Disturb sticker
A peel-off sticker, unused. This dates from the 1990s. Grade: 2

Code: 30200214
Price: $3.00
TACA International Airlines – schedule
Covering April 30 through October 28, 1967. Grade: 1

Code: 50000026
Price: $12.00
East African Road Services Limited Time-Table (Kenya)
Dated 1st October 1966 until further notice, a detailed and multi-page timetable of bus routes in English and Swahili. Some writing on the back. Grade: 2

Code: 50000043
Price: $11.00
East African Airways – This seat is occupied
The other side of this card is actually more interesting, going on as it does about how “May we please explain” various factors affecting how heavy the aircraft could be before being allowed to take off. So it wasn’t necessarily that the seat was occupied, but equally possible that the seat couldn’t be occupied. Grade: 1

Code: 50000054
Price: $5.00
Hongkong Macao Hydrofoil Co., Ltd. ticket (22 September 1974)
Long before jetfoils, Turbojet, and even The Bridge, there were slow ferries and then hydrofoils shuttling between Hong Kong and Macau. It could be a bumpy ride. Details filled in for Immigration requirement. Grade: 2

Code: 50000140
Price: $6.00
Metro Owner’s Manual (Washington, D.C.)
Washington waited what seemed like *forever* for their Metro system to open, and when it did, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority preciously suggested that the system was “like that new house” or “that sleek car … that special something you have always wanted”. It went on to say that “Metro is the product of more than fifty years of talk.” No doubt about that. This pamphlet came out in 1976. Grade: 1

Code: 50000142
Price: $24.00
Speed, Style or a Sea Cruise to the unique attractions of Macau
There had been three modes of transport to Macau in the 1970s when this folder came out, but time and tide wait for no man … now the hydrofoil and the jetfoil have been replaced by the Turbojet and, to everyone’s astonishment, a bridge connecting Macau with neighbouring Zhuhai and Hong Kong. We hear people refer to that bridge as a white elephant. It may redeem itself at some point down the road, but we wouldn’t bet on it. (Ha ha.) Grade: 1

Code: 50000160
Price: $8.00
Used transport ticket receipts – Hong Kong and Macau
An assortment of five tickets showing how people used to go between Macau and Hong Kong. Grading these is hardly possible, but this is how they were. Grade: 1

Code: 50000169
Price: $14.00
Taipei MRT Tourist Information and Map (Taiwan)
Large and comprehensive folder doing exactly as it says it does: showing the MRT, a general map, and lots more. From October 2003. Grade: 2

Code: 50000198
Price: $12.00
Hong Kong MTR system map
The Mass Transit Railway in Hong Kong evolves almost faster than maps can keep up with it, which is good for travelers but not so much for anyone who relies on printed maps. This one dates from roughly 2007, we think, as it includes the line to Disneyland. Bilingual. Grade: 1

Code: 50000281
Price: $10.00
Hong Kong – three High Speed Rail brochures
Exceptionally, we’ll group together three different brochures issued by Hong Kong’s MTR (Mass Transit Railway) on behalf of its newly opened High Speed Rail service from West Kowloon into China in 2019. Lots and lots of information about fares, location, tickets, and the station itself. Unfortunately for the railroad, and for MTR, the opening more or less coincided with Covid, the Chinese border closing to normal travelers, and, as well, overlapping with a perfectly good existing but slightly slower train service. So many stories we could tell you — but so can the internet. Grade: 1

Code: 50000300
Price: $19.00
KMB Nathan Road Travel (Hong Kong)
KMB = Kowloon Motor Bus, and Nathan Road basically bisects all of Kowloon. So in the event you can’t read the comprehensive signs at each bus stop, here’s a 2022 bilingual brochure spelling out the destinations and even the fares. (For now, anyway.) Grade: 1

Code: 50000317
Price: $5.00
Trans World Airlines Timetable (26 September 1954)
This TWA timetable has become moth-eaten over the years, and has extra writing on the reverse, but the inside is generally good and is a peek into the day when travelers relied on information like this. Grade: 4

Code: 50000332
Price: $6.00
Cathay Pacific Amenities Kit
From the 1980s or possibly 1990s, and never opened (the plastic fastener is intact), we think this was from Business Class but don’t hold us to that — it might have been Economy. In any event, we might not use whatever toothpaste might be inside but everything is original and still there. Grade: 1

Code: 50000334
Price: $14.00
East African Airways baggage tag – ZNZ
ZNZ, as the scan shows, is Zanzibar. This was used in 1967. East African Airways itself, jointly run by Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya, went out of business in 1977. Grade: 1

Code: 50000335
Price: $19.00
Pan Am Clipper Class Amenity Kit
From the late 1970s or early 1980s, unopened. It does not surprise us too much that these are available all over the internet, so we borrowed someone else’s description of the probable (but not guaranteed) contents of the kit they were selling: “Navy blue. Contains toothbrush and toothpaste, disposable razor, plastic hair comb, shoe horn, flight socks and toiletry sachets. Clipper class was for frequent business flyers.” Another seller points out that contents of these bags varied quite often. We are not going to open ours to find out. Grades: 1

Code: 50000359
Price: $12.00
USSR Ministry of Railways – Timetable of International Routes
From 28 May 1967, 64 detailed pages of routes and formalities. If you collect railway ephemera, this is something you should want. Grade: 2

Code: 50000417
Price: $59.00
Air Mali schedule
Measuring only 3-3/4″ x 4-3/4″ when folded, this small timetable comes from an airline that existed in that form from 1960 until 1985. (Short story: On 22 February 1985, Air Mali’s An-24 experienced an engine explosion upon take-off from Timbuktu, eventually crashing. Following this accident, and also because of large debts the airline had incurred, the government forced the airline to close down in 1988 with its operations being taken over by Malitas in 1989.) But this timetable dates from August 1968. We were in Timbuktu at the time, and the airline rescued us. R.I.P. Air Mali. Grade: 1

Code: 50000418
Price: $8.00
Burlington Northern time table (USA)
This railroad time table effective October 25, 1970, and in remarkably good condition. Grade: 1

Code: 50000419
Price: $18.00
East African Railways & Harbours – Time Table (Kenya)
Effective from 1st July 1967. It was a decent rail system but went nowhere near where we lived. Grade: 2

Code: 50000420
Price: $21.00
Lake Central Airlines – timetable (USA)
Lake Central Airlines served points in the Midwestern and eastern United States from 1950 to 1968, when it merged into Allegheny Airlines. In 1979 Allegheny became USAir. In 1997 USAir became US Airways. In 2015 US Airways was acquired by American Airlines. Yet, somehow, this old (1954) schedule lives on — right up to the minute, complete with printed fares. It’s marked with rubber stamps on the back, but authentic and complete. Grade: 3

Code: 50000421
Price: $19.00
Alitalia – transit bar/restaurant coupon
Alitalia operated as an airline from 1947 until 2021. In 1972, for whatever reason, we were somewhere and we got this “refreshment” coupon, and used it. We enjoy reading the instruction on the lower left, having clearly not done altogether as told. Grade: 1

Code: 50000432
Price: $3.00
East African Airways – transport voucher
This was used sometime between 1967-69, to or from Nairobi airport. There’s a small tear at the top. Grade: 3

Code: 50000433
Price: $3.00
East African Railways and Harbours – Left Luggage
From 1969 and in awful condition but it was a rough trip. Grade: 4

Code: 50000434
Price: $1.00
East African Road Services (Kisumu, Kenya)
From September 1968, a ticket for the overnight bus to Kampala, where the driver kindly didn’t kick us off until dawn. That saved a hotel bill. Grade: 2

Code: 50000435
Price: $3.00
Heathrow Airport bus ticket (London)
From the mid-1970s and sold by Pan Am, this ticket was good for a ride on the airport coach from Heathrow to the city, or vice -versa. Grade 1

Code: 50000436
Price: $3.00
Airport bus ticket (Casablanca, Morocco)
From 1975, either to or from Casablanca’s Nouasser Airport on the bus. Grade: 2

Code: 50000437
Price: $4.00
South African Airways – Road Transport receipt
Must have been on a bus to or from Johannesburg Airport in the mid-1970s. Grade: 1

Code: 50000439
Price: $1.00
Public Ferries Receipt (Tanzania)
Five cents seems like a good deal even back then in 1967. Grade: 1

Code: 50000440
Price: $3.00
Public Ferries Receipt (Tanzania)
Used in 1967 or 1968, and it seemed safe enough at the time. Grade: 2

Code: 50000441
Price: $3.00
Transport tickets
Altogether 16 used transport tickets from the 1960s and 1970s, around the world. Mostly, but not all, from public or airport buses. In varying conditions, as used tickets are bound to be! Mixed grades.

Code: 50000442
Price: $15.00
Shun Tak Shipping – M.V. Tai Shan (Macau)
Long before one could drive to Macau and back from Hong Kong across an endless series of bridges and tunnels, and before Turbojets, and before jetfoils, and before hydrofoils … there were ferries. Here’s a 1974 used ticket from one of those. The trip typically took about four hours and the overnight ferry was a good deal if they let you stay aboard until things started opening up on either side. Grade: 2

Code: 50000445
Price: $12.00
Highway Code of Kenya
This is a 28-page softcover pamphlet produced by the Kenyan Government in 1967. At the time, drivers there were well-behaved — but there wasn’t all that much traffic, either. Grade 1

Code: 50000460
Price: $12.00
District of Columbia Metro (Washington) – map
Single-sheet map of the newly opened Metro system, dated 29 March 1976. Grade: 1

Code: 50000464
Price: $12.00

Total: 35 postcards