Egyptian Delta Light Railways
| Egyptian Delta Light Railways | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Sentinel narrow-gauge locomotive No. 200 of the
Egyptian Delta Light Railways around 1920 | |
 Route in the 1920s
| |
| Route length: | 1000 km |
| Gauge : | 750 mm ( narrow gauge ) |
The Egyptian Delta Light Railways (Ägyptische Delta-Kleinbahnen) built and operated an approximately 1000 km long narrow-gauge railway network in Egypt .
history
The construction of the first line began in 1898. The network of the railway company with a gauge of 750 mm consisted of a total of about 1000 km long railway lines through the Nile Delta north of Cairo , some of which were not connected. The network had the task of supplementing the standard gauge network for local traffic.
In 1900, merged the company with the Compagnie des chemins économiques de l'Est égyptien . The railway was in operation until after the Second World War , but could no longer be operated economically. In 1953, the railway company's assets were confiscated by the Egyptian government and then auctioned off.
From August 1, 1956, Luke Teeling campaigned in the House of Commons with the British Foreign Secretary John Hope for the rights of British shareholders, which were lost in 1954 due to two court hearings. In November 1971, the British Foreign Minister Anthony Kershaw clarified in response to a request from Peter Rost that the Light Railway had already been taken over by the Egyptian state in 1953 and was therefore not covered by the compensation agreement for the nationalization measures of 1960-64.
Rail vehicles
The first 35 4-4-0T locomotives were manufactured by WG Bagnall in 1898 . In 1900 another 18 2-4-0T and 16 0-6-2T locomotives were built by Georg Krauss . In 1907, Nasmyth, Wilson and Company and North British Locomotive Company supplied another 30 0-6-4T locomotives. WG Bagnall later delivered a 2-6-2T of the series, which were also supplied to the Kalighat Falta Railway and the Bankura Damodar Railway to India, where they became known as the Delta class. In 1930 the railway company already had 129 locomotives. About 50 Sentinel locomotives were added later . The first diesel locomotives were procured in the 1930s.
Web links
- Documents and newspaper articles on the Egyptian Delta Light Railways in the 20th Century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Durrant, AE, AA Jorgensen, CP Lewis. Steam in Africa, London, 1981, Hamlyn.
- ↑ HC Deb November 7, 1955 vol 545 cc1464-5.
- ↑ HC Deb August 1, 1956 vol 557 c1366.
- ↑ HC Deb November 15, 1971 vol 826 c31W.