If anyone has US$25,000 to spare, there is this for sale at The Wayfarer’s Bookshop in Canada:

Unique Extensive & Historically Important Photograph and Document Archive of Edmund Rich, Summarizing his Service as the Official Surveyor of the British Colonial Forces in the North-West Frontier in 1905-1909, and Containing Excellent First-Hand Accounts of the Bazar Valley and Mohmand Campaigns of 1908, as well as a Detailed Survey of the Khyber Pass for the Planned Kabul River Railway and of the District between Malakand, Swat River and Dir.

It includes “several interesting photos of the working survey team under Rich’s command” and of a “railway camp on the Kabul River, 3 miles from Warsak”.

Another similar – or is it the same? – archive collection was sold in December 2012.

Having recently spent a bit of time in various archive collections (sadly I don’t have US$25k to see this one!) I’m currently writing up some notes to update the webpage about the Kabul River Railway scheme. More information has come to light since the page was first written, and while this has answered a number of questions, it has also raised others. Watch this space!