Khyber Ropeway Company
Khyber Ropeway Company 1919 to c 1925
In 1925 the following was written:
"Ropeway to be Dismantled
A large part of the Khyber ropeway, which , since its erection in 1919 has handled a maximum of 200 tons of goods per day, is to be dismantled owing to difficulties with the Afghans. The total length of the ropeway is 19 miles".[1]
The ropeway system appears to have been run by the Khyber Ropeway Company, part of the Royal Army Service Corps
Lord Montagu of Beaulieu in a House of Lords debate 31 March 1921 said
"Two years ago I was delighted to find that the Government of India carried out a recommendation which I made that there should be a wire ropeway in the Khyber Pass. This has been completed, and has lately taken over twenty tons of stores a day to the summit "[2]
H M Glover of the IFS advised that the Khyber ropeway was erected on the same plan as a ropeway at Patriata of the heavy endless cable type, erected in 1910 for bringing firewood to the troops at Murree, as a consequence of General Sir Gerald Kitson’s aquaintance with the Patriata ropeway in 1912. After the Khyber ropeway was dismantled, part was re-erected by the Forest Department in three sections of total length 8 miles for bringing firewood to Abbottabad. [3]
The King’s College London , Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives website has a catalogue reference "Douglas-Scott-Montagu 7/42 1918 Apr 10 Memoranda, Articles and Reports: Report by Montagu and Capt S Limby on the use of wire ropeways on the North West Frontier and hill stations. Ref S80 QMG. Printed 4 pp and map of proposed road and ropeway Makeland District (2 copies)"
The King’s College London , Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives website has a catalogue reference " Liddell: 15/3/167 1910-1936 :Journal articles relating to British defence in India, including …..'The Khyber Ropeway Company' by Lt Col Richard Parry Crawley in Royal Army Service Corps Quarterly [1931]". This journal appears to be Volume 1 New Series which is also available at the Imperial War Museum.
Photographs and postcards
- Two photograph from the National Army Museum collection
- The ropeway transit system, Landi Kotal, 1919 NAM. 1963-09-633-4
- The ropeway transit system at Landi Kotal, c 1919 Photograph by Randolph Bezzant Holmes. NAM. 1963-09-633-12
- Postcard: "Khyber Water Works Showing the Highest Pole of Ropeway" Google Search
References
- ↑ Page 391 The Meccano Magazine August 1925 Archive.org
- ↑ House of Lords Debate 31May 1921 Defence of North-West Frontier Hansard
- ↑ Paper No 130 "Punjab Building Timbers and Methods of Extraction" by H M Glover IFS page 123 Proceedings of the Punjab Engineering Congress, Lahore, Volume 17, 1929. Article is pages 119-126b (total 18 pages pdf, including photographs of the Patriata ropeway.) pecongress.org.pk.