Roger Farnworth Railways

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Egyptian Railways
Part 1 - A Short History

The featured image for this article is a 4-4-0 Locomotive No. 694 – one of a class of 15 built by the North British Locomotive Company in Scotland for Egyptian State Railways in 1905-06, © Public Domain. [1]

Egyptian National Railways (Al-Sikak al-Ḥadīdiyyah al-Miṣriyyah) is the national railway network of Egypt. Founded in 1854, it is the oldest railway system in Africa and the Middle East. [1] Much of what follows comes from the Wikipedia article about Egypt’s national railway network [1] and from Hugh Hughes book, ‘Middle East Railways’, published by the Continental Railway Circle. [3] Other sources include Grace’s Guide, [6] the Egyptian Government [7] and the Institute of Developing Economies. [8]

Quote: 1833-1877

Wikipedia tells us that, “In 1833, Muhammad Ali Pasha considered building a railway between Suez and Cairo to improve transit between Europe and India. Muhammad Ali had proceeded to buy the rail when the project was abandoned due to pressure by the French who had an interest in building a canal instead.”

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