Sudan narrow gauge remnants

Photos of motive and rolling stock, stations, signals and anything else train related in the Sudan! Photos should be 800x600 pixels, maximum size 130K. Very good ones will be moved to the Online Gallery, the rest will be pruned away after 14 days to conserve space.
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John Ashworth
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Sudan narrow gauge remnants

Post by John Ashworth »

In the mid-20th century there was a small narrow gauge railway serving the dockyard and warehouse area in Malakal, on the Nile in southern Sudan. There seem to be few records of it, and very little remaining, although old rails and sleepers can be seen in culverts, fences and buildings in Malakal. It has been closed for many decades.

In the old Egyptian quarter of Malakal (where Egyptian hydrologists monitor the flow of water in the Nile in accordance with the 1928 and 1959 agreements) a few remnants of track can be seen. These two photos are taken inside a workshop area. It looks like 2 ft gauge, maybe? I asked if there are any old locomotives remaining but David, the young man who unlocked the gates and showed me round (see photo 2), said no, this is all there is. He also said that nobody knows anything about this railway as it is too old. I suspect any remaining motive power and rolling stock would have been relocated when it was closed.

Photos by John Ashworth, 13th February 2009.
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Disused track
Disused track
IMG_1621.JPG (72.85 KiB) Viewed 4324 times
David stands over the points
David stands over the points
IMG_1620.JPG (70.07 KiB) Viewed 4332 times
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Kevin Wilson-Smith

Re: Sudan narrow gauge remnants

Post by Kevin Wilson-Smith »

Fascinating! You in the right place at the right time to discover things, so keep discovering!
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Nathan Berelowitz
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Joined: 25 Jan 2007, 14:17
Location: Pretoria, South Africa

Re: Sudan narrow gauge remnants

Post by Nathan Berelowitz »

Sudanly you could be forming a preservation group. This could be brought to the attention of narrow guage train fans.
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Dylan Knott
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Location: Cape Town

Re: Sudan narrow gauge remnants

Post by Dylan Knott »

Saw something like this on the old AECI site at Somerset West yesterday. Nothing left except for short sections of the old trolley tracks. Oh and for some reason the only building retained was the loco shed complete with inspection pits etc.
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allanroy
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Re: Sudan narrow gauge remnants

Post by allanroy »

I found this book online that may or may not help

https://www.ianallanpublishing.com/prod ... 42&page=19
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John Ashworth
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Re: Sudan narrow gauge remnants

Post by John Ashworth »

Thanks, Allan. I have a copy of this very interesting little book. It's in storage in UK so I can't check it, but I don't seem to recall anything about the Malakal line in it. The Red Sea line to which its title refers is a good 1,000 km from Malakal. Sudan is a huge country. At 2.4 million square km it's the largest in Africa, twice the size of South Africa and comparable with the size of most of western Europe.
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