Egyptian Salt and Soda Company Railway

The Egyptian Salt and Soda Company Railway was a 33 miles (54 km) long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 750 mm in Egypt.

Egyptian Salt and Soda Co. Railway
The Egyptian Salt and Soda Company Limited
Technical
Line length54 km
Track gauge750 mm
Streckenverlauf[1]
0
 Khataba
 Khataba Hill
 Bir Victoria
54
 Bir Hooker

Track

The track went from Khataba railway station at the standard gauge Cairo–Damanhur line to Bir Hooker in Wadi Natrun.[2] Thus, it was also known as Khataba-Wadi Natrun R(ailwa)y. According to the Baedeker of 1914, there passenger transport was provided on the line.

Locomotives and Wagons
Locomotive of the Egyptian Salt and Soda Company Railway

Three 0-6-0 locomotives were built by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM) in 1898. One 0-4-0WT ex-War-Department locomotive was made by Hunslet. Two Corpet locomotives had been previously used from 1891 to 1902 at the Port Said Railway. Brookville supplied two rail tractors with six wheels each, which were driven by internal combustion engines. A red Orenstein & Koppel worked mainly on the branch to the limestone quarries. From the cab plate of an Aebi engine it is not fully clear, whether it has been built or only delivered by Robert Aebi. One locomotive of Gouillet and one of Rose Downs were also part of the rolling stock.[3] The locomotive pictured is featured in the NGRS publication, THE NARROW GAUGE, Jubilee edition 50, March 1969 with the same photograph. Cabside plates are ES & S CO. Hunslet 756 1901 Despatched 4.7.1901 EGYPTIAN SALT AND SODA CO. Wady Natron Estate No 4. Loco had 8 x 12 outside cylinders and ran on the 75cm gauge. It is a tender version of Cyprus Government Railways number 1 which survives, plinthed at Famagusta.

In 1936, the company owned 3 coaches and 135 goods wagons.[4]

References
  1. Jim Fergusson: Liste der Bahnstationen
  2. Captain Claud Williams: Light Car Patrols 1916-19: War and Exploration in Egypt and Libya with the Model T Ford. Silphium Press, 2013. Page 172.
  3. David L. F. Gilbert: Egyptian Interlude. The Marker, Magazine of the Alberta Pioneer Railway Association, Canada, March 1983, Pages 47/15-50/18. The Text without photos was also reprinted in The Industrial Locomotive, Autumn 1985.
  4. World Survey of Foreign Railways. Transportation Division, Bureau of foreign and domestic commerce, Washington D.C. 1936. p. 153.


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