Railways of Afghanistan

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Abdul Rehman’s grandson Amanullah became King of Afghanistan in 1919, and began to modernise the nation. His plans included railways.

Work began on a new European-style capital city at Darulaman near Kabul.¹ On 15 December 1922 The Locomotive reported “Travellers from Afghanistan state a railway is being laid down for a distance of some six miles from Kabul to the site of the new city of Darulaman, and also that some of the rolling stock for it is being manufactured in the Kabul workshops.”²

Three small steam locomotives were acquired from Henschel of Kassel in Germany, and possibly either some carriages or underframe components to use with locally-built bodies. The locos were put to work on a 7 km roadside tramway linking Kabul and Darulaman. In August 1928 The Locomotive reported "the only railway at present in Afghanistan is five miles long, between Kabul and Darulaman."³

King Amanullah was overthrown in January 1929, and the railway fell out of use at some point. The locomotives were put into store in the two-road engine shed, then became part of the collection of the National Museum of Afghanistan.

In January 2002 museum caretaker Omara Khan Masoudi said "These are historical artefacts and we want to keep them. Of course, it would be good to have a real railway now, that would be progress".⁴

A 2’6″ gauge tramway ran for about 7km from Kabul southwest to Darulaman.

Then …

Wilhelm Rieck of Berlin was in Kabul in 1923. He was one of a number of Germans who worked in Afghanistan by request of King Amanullah, and was in charge of building electrical installations, in particular at Darulaman palace.

He travelled to Kabul, Kandahar, India, and Teheran taking photographs, and his great-grandson Werner Müller sent me these two photos of the railway. The Germans also built a school, which has a website which shows some of Rieck’s photos

First railway from Darulaman to Kabul Railway Darulaman – Kabul First official tour (without any representatives of the government) The original caption reads: Die erste Eisenbahn von Darulaman nach Kabul Eisenbahn Darulaman – Kabul Erste offizielle Fahrt (ohne irgendwelche Regierungsvertretung!)

Railway line after the first rain Tracks on the way after the first rainy days! (Installation of the railway line as it should not be made.) Afghanistan German caption: Eisenbahngleis nach dem ersten Regen Gleise, unterwegs nach den ersten Regentagen! (Verlegung des Gleises, wie es nicht gemacht werden soll.) Afghanistan

… and now

Despite everything, the steam locomotives have survived, at first in their shed at the Kabul museum in Darulaman, and now out in the open.

On October 13 2004 Wim Brummelman found the three locos at Darulaman, in the yard behind the museum: most sources had suggested there were only two locos. Can any one tell me what model they might be, or supply any more details?

In the shed

Two of the locos were photographed by Frank Selman in 1975, when they were still in the shed.

On the side of one locomotive is some c.1975 graffiti in Pashtu. It says (roughly) In memory of us here from [the name of a school] on this plaque, followed by several names such as Ahdur Rahim, Matollah and Sultan Mahmed. It seems some schoolchildren visited the Kabul Museum opposite the engine shed, and one of them had a piece of crayon in his pocket.

Map

Sheet I-42 J Kabul was originally compiled and published under the direction of the Surveyor-General of India 1916, and revised to 1940. This edition was published by the War Office in 1942 and reprinted by the US Army Map Service in October 1942. Original scale 1:253 440. The line was almost certainly disused by 1942.

Map courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin.

Updates

Updates on the Darulaman railway.

Next page: King Amanullah’s travels

References