Port Said Railway

Ismailia-Port Said
Ismailia, train station
Port Said, train station
Gauge :	750 mm from 1904: 1435 mm
Legend 0 Port Said (Gare de Rassouah) Ismailia

The Port Said Railway was a narrow-gauge railway along the Suez Canal with a gauge of 750 mm from Port Said ( 31 ° 15 ′ 17.5 ″  N , 32 ° 17 ′ 53.6 ″  E ) to Ismailia ( 30 ° 35 ′ 36 ″ N, 32 ° 16 ′ 12 ″ E ) in Egypt .

history

4-4-0 steam locomotive No. V5

The construction of the narrow-gauge railway was approved in 1891. It was primarily used for passenger transport, as goods were transported on canal boats. In 1902, the railway line was built by the Egyptian State Railways adopted and 1,904 standard gauge umgespurt . The narrow-gauge locomotives were sold to the Egyptian Delta Light Railways .

Goal setting

The narrow-gauge railway should enable a faster connection between Port Said and the individual stations, stops and passing points, as well as the workshops, offices, warehouses and hospitals than was possible with steam launches on the canal. These steamboats took an average of 6½ hours to travel between the two points mentioned and were often stopped by ships stranded in the canal on their journeys, which took place only during the day due to the nocturnal navigation movement in the canal. A speed of 35 km / h was aimed for for the railway in order to cover the distance between Port Said and Ismaila in 2¼ hours.

budget

The cost of this canal bank tram, which was run entirely on properties owned by the canal company, was estimated at 2.7 million francs , of which 1 million was for the earthworks and the building construction, 1.4 million for the acquisition of the rails and the Train conveyor material, and the rest of the system and equipment of the stations should be accounted for.

construction

Unexpectedly, the construction of the small railway, through which Port Said was to be freed from its previous island location, met with resistance from the Egyptian government. The government denied that the Canal Company had the right to run the railway over certain land lines which the company considered to be its property but which the government considered to be part of the "domain commun".

Operations were to start in the second half of 1892. This should make Port Said more accessible by land. Until the railway was built, there were only two poorly maintained, in places unmarked routes from Damiette and Alexandria to Port Said, both of which led over soft, sandy ground and one of which was partially flooded at certain times of the year. These routes were not practical for the transport of heavy wagons or guns.

Locomotives

No.	Wheel alignment	cylinder	Manufacturer	serial number	Picture, technical data	Construction year	Later use
1-2	C.		Corpet Louvet & Cie	532-533	Weight 9.9 t or 13.15 t with tender, wheel diameter 3 feet (914 mm)	1891	Egyptian Salt and Soda Company Railway
V1 - V4	1 B	9.5 x 15	Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques	4458-4461	Locomotive No. V1	1893	Egyptian Delta Light Railways 105-108
V5	2 B	9.25 x 16.5	Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques	4675	Locomotive No. V5	1896	Egyptian Delta Light Railways 109
V6	2 B		Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques			1898

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Map of Port Said (1914)
2. ^ Iain Logie: Egyptian Narrow Gauge Railways - Their History and Stock. Research Notes for the library of the Narrow Gauge Railway Society, V2, August 2017.
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Freiherr Jerolim Benko von Boinik: The journey of the SM ship "Zriny" to East Asia , 1890-1891: written on the orders of the K. and K. Reich Ministry of War, Marine Section, on the basis of the reports of the K. . and K. Ship Commands, and supplemented by consular reports and other authentic sources, volumes 1-2. C. Gerold's son, 1893.
4. ^ Egypt Railways - Port Said Railway Company - 4-4-0 steam locomotive No. V5 (SACM Graffenstaden, 1896) and a passenger train.

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap