Friends of the Rail Forum

Lord Kitchener's biographer... has stated that he insisted on a 3 ft. 6 in. gauge for the railway [from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamed in Sudan], in order to conform to the regular South African standard, and so contribute his share to Cecil Rhodes' scheme for a Cape to Cairo railway (1).

I discovered this little gem in an old history book about Sudan, entitled The Mahdiya - A History of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1881-1899 by A B Theobald, Longmans, 1951, p 210. I found a 1959 edition of the book lying in a pile of dust and cobwebs in a church house in Malakal, southern Sudan. It has a few interesting sections about the construction of the first part of the railway, which was a military railway and an essential part of Kitchener's strategy for the reconquest of Sudan. The book's title is deceptive, really, as during most of the period in question Sudan was independent so it wasn't really the "Anglo-Egyptian" Sudan!

(1) Citing Life of Lord Kitchener, Vol I, p 207 by Sir George Arthur

I remember Wadi Halfa as child (a very small when) when we used to fly back and forth from the UK. Do not remember much -a couple of disjointed "views", but it must have made an impression!

Got covered when they built the dam I think?