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Gordon Risley Hearn
Gordon Risley Hearn, Sir (1871-1953) Knight, Colonel and antiquary [1]
Railway Achievements
- 1920-26 Khyber Railway survey and construction
In the 2007 book "The Khyber Pass: A History of Empire and Invasion" the author Paddy Docherty writes on p.215:-
'Military men had for many years desired a rail link to the furthest point of the frotier, and the difficulties of supplying and reiforcing British forces operating inside the pass in 1919 turned minds once again towards a railway to the Afgan border. For a generation it had been considered impossible to force a passage through the broken mountains and sheer cliffs, but a masterful survey by Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Hearn - later Sir Gordon - damolished this myth a construction began in 1920. The railway had been extended to Jamrud in 1901; that the final thirty miles to the Afgan frontier took six years to lay speaks of the tremendous difficulties facing the engineers.' [2]
References
- ↑ archives.gov.uk/details/c/F67727 National Archives "Hearn, Sir Gordon Risley (1871-1953) Knight, Colonel and antiquary"; Retrieved on 18 Apr 2016
- ↑ Google Books "The Khyber Pass: A History of Empire and Invasion" by Paddy Docherty p.215; Retrieved on 18 Apr 2016