Aden Railway

Aden Railway
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Line of route
Maala to El Khudad
Gauge / mileage
Metre gauge	29 miles (1929)
Timeline
1915	Construction begun by Royal Engineers
1919-1920	Extended to Lahej
1922	Opened to public use
1929	Closed
1930	Dismantled
Key locations
Presidency	Bombay
Stations	Maala, Sheikh Othman, Lahej, Hassaini Gardens, El Khudad
System agency
	Worked by North Western Railway
How to interpret this infobox

The Aden Settlement was established on 19 January 1839 when elements of the Royal Marines were landed at Aden by the East India Company to occupy the territory and to stop attacks by pirates on British shipping. Initially part of the Bombay Presidency and later a "Chief Commissioner's Province," Aden remained a part of the Indian Empire until 1 April 1937 when it was detached and re-organised as a Crown Colony of the United Kingdom.

History

In order to support operations against the Ottoman Empire, the Royal Engineers built a military railway in 1915-1916 from Aden to Sheikh Othman, the border with Turkish Yemen. The railway was built to metre gauge standards and the materials used in construction were almost certainly sourced from India, most likely by cannibalising branches of the Bombay, Baroda and Central India and Eastern Bengal Railways.

In 1919. the line was extended from Sheikh Othman to Lahej, and in the following year, to El Khudad. In 1922 the line was opened up to public use, carrying traffic between Aden and Yemen and military supplies to the outpost at Sheikh Othman. The line was worked by the North Western Railway under a designated Engineer-in-charge. The line proved too costly to maintain and was closed in 1929 before being dismantled in 1930.

Classification

Indian Railway Classification of 1926 - Class III railway system.

Records

Refer to FIBIS Fact File #4: “Research sources for Indian Railways, 1845-1947” - available from the Fibis shop. This Fact File contains invaluable advice on 'Researching ancestors in the UK records of Indian Railways' with particular reference to the India Office Records (IOR) held at the British Library

No specific staff records have been identified.

Records relating to the construction and dismantling of Aden Railway are held in the India Office Records at the British Library. An on-line search of the IOR records relating to this railway gives the following: -

• L/PS/10/89 “File 379/1906 'Railways: Aden; railway construction in Aden hinterland; Aden-Lahej Railway'; 20 Aug 1904-3 Apr 1922”. The Catalogue Contents state ‘The volume comprises telegrams, despatches, correspondence, and notes, relating to proposals for the construction of a steam railway between Aden and its hinterland from 1904..... The correspondence is followed by further discussion on extending into Aden a railway to be built from Dar-al-Amir to Nobat Dakim (Nawbatal-Dakim), Yemen’
• R/20/A/1244 “File 2/3 Tramways and Railways: Aden Hinterland; 1904-1911”
• R/20/A/4959 “File 17 Railway Aden Hinterland: Construction; 1907”
• R/20/A/1241 “File 2/1 Pt. I Tramways and Railways: Aden Tramway; 1907-1908”
• R/20/A/1242 “File 2/1 Pt. II Tramways and Railways: Aden Tramway; 1908-1920”
• R/20/A/1245 “File 2/3 Pt. III Tramways and Railways: Aden Hinterland; 1919-21”
• R/20/A/4395 “File [101] Railway: Notes, estimates, etc, relating to Aden railway, furnished by the Office-in-Charge ; 1921”
• R/20/A/2753 “File 194/1 Aden Railway: Extension to the Musemir; 1926”
• R/20/A/3232 “File 523 Proposed discontinuance of the Aden railway service; 1928”
• L/PS/10/703/1 “File 3082/1917 Pt 16 Aden: railways; 1928-1930”
• L/PS/12/1462 “Coll 1/26 Disposal of rolling stock and material of the former Aden railway ; 23 Aug 1932-6 Jul 1935”

External links

• Wikipedia "Aden"
• Wikipedia "Colony of Aden"
• Middle East Railway "Railways in Yemen" by Andrew Grantham from notes compiled by Eljas Pölhö