Latest updates

The most recent updates from my various webpages. To keep up-to-date on the topics covered, follow @andrew_grantham on Twitter for railways (and other things which interest me), and @ConcreteEar for sound mirrors and suchlike.

Railways of Afghanistan

If you thought Afghanistan was bereft of railroads, read on for a story of international intrigue, invasion plans, the Great Game, and powers imperial and hydro-electric.

  • Afghanistan joins OTIF 1 May 2019
    Afghanistan: 51st member of OTIF On 1 May 2019, Afghanistan becomes the 51st member of the Intergovernmental Organisation for International Carriage by Rail (OTIF). The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan …
  • Afghanistan to join COTIF 15 April 2019
    The accession of Afghanistan to the Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail is scheduled to take effect on 1 May 2019. Afghanistan is also a member of OSJD and the Economic Co-operation O …
  • Third Afghan War 100th anniversary 17 March 2019
    Follow the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Third Anglo-Afghan War in real(ish) time on Twitter at @ThirdAfghanWar. Disclaimers: I’m no expert, so some of the details may be a bit out. In particular, the …
  • Photos of the Iran to Herat railway project 1 March 2019
    Some photos of the railway under construction between Iran and Herat province. Governor of #Herat Qayyum Rahimi, inspected d 3rd phase of #Herat–#Khawaf railway project. Authorities informed him of co …
  • Turkmenistan and Afghanistan sign railway agreements 25 February 2019
    President of Afghanistan Mohammad Ashraf Ghani made an official visit to Turkmenistan at the invitation of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on 21 February 2019. As part of the visit, an MoU was sig …

Sound mirrors

Follow @ConcreteEar on Twitter for sound mirror news and updates.

  • Sound mirror photos on the BBC website 7 January 2019
    Black and white photos of the sound mirrors by Joe Pettet-Smith on the BBC News website. More than 100 years ago acoustic mirrors along the coast of England were used to detect the sound of approachin …
  • Photographing the Kilnsea sound mirror 30 September 2018
    Martin Fuge shows how he photographed the Kilnsea sound mirror. His other landscape photography videos are worth watching as well.
  • Sound mirrors in the Financial Times 24 July 2018
    An article about sound mirrors by the security and defence editor of the Financial Times. Forgotten, dilapidated and, in one case, buried by the local council as an eyesore; these smooth, spherical co …
  • Dungeness sound mirror open day 7 July 2018
    Thank you to all 350 visitors who came to support our open day. Good turn out considering this weekends sporting events… The next one is on the 1st September! @RSPB_SouthEast @concreteear pic.twitter. …
  • Sound mirrors in The Telegraph 30 April 2018
    Today they’re usually called ‘sound mirrors’ or ‘listening ears’ – and to a certain sort of person they are one of the holy grails of aircraft surveillance. The ‘big ears’ of Kent built to keep Blight …

Railways of Iraq

  • PC class streamlined loco photo 25 June 2018
  • Pictures of Baghdad Central station 29 November 2016
    BBC report In pictures: The crown jewel of Iraq’s railway. See if you can spot the steam loco in the second and the last photos.
  • Mobile friendly 13 April 2015
    I have changed this website’s WordPress theme, so hopefully it should now be more mobile device friendly. Let me know if anything doesn’t work. Meanwhile, I would recommend following “Historical Railw …
  • New coaches for Iraqi Republic Railways 16 January 2015
    Tüvasaş has built 14 coaches for Iraqi Republic Railways, including 2 sleeping, 4 couchette and 2 restaurant cars pic.twitter.com/CM4IdLrKvC — Railway Gazette (@railwaygazette) January 14, 2015
  • Derailment response vehicle for IRR 29 September 2014
    One of 7 Zagro derailment response vehicles ordered by Iraqi Republic Railways, on show at #InnoTrans pic.twitter.com/J0HmL5iUER — Railway Gazette (@railwaygazette) September 26, 2014

Other – travel and similar

If God had intended us to fly, He would never have given us the railways.