Fortified North Western State Railway bridge over the Indus at Attock, 1895
The military and strategic concerns for securing the border with Afghanistan were such that, Francis Langford O'Callaghan (who was posted from the state railways as engineer-in-chief) was called upon for a number of demanding railway projects, surveys and constructions in the Northwest Frontier.[3] What initially started off as military and strategic railway project, ended up becoming part of the North Western State Railway network upon its formation in 1886. The Bolan Pass railway was completed in 1886 and in 1887 the Khawaja Amran Railway Survey included the Khojak Tunnel and the Chaman Extension Railway.[4] The Khojak Tunnel opened in 1891 and the railway reached Chaman near the Afghan border. By 1905, it was the longest railway under one administration and the strategic railway of the entire Northwest frontier. The North Western State Railway was renamed as North Western Railway in 1905.[5] In 1947, much of the North Western Railway fell in Pakistan territory domain and became part of the Pakistan Western Railways, while railways in Indian territory became incorporated into the Eastern Punjab Railway.[6]
Mergers
The North Western State Railway network was formed by merging several major and minor railways together. These included:
Tank locomotive, built around 1907 for service on the Bolān Pass.
In 1899 the North Western State Railway owned 602 steam locomotives, 2,121 coaches and 10,312 goods wagons.[8] In 1906 a steam motor coach from Vulcan Foundry was purchased.[9] By 1936, the rolling stock had increased to 1332 locomotives, 18 railcars, 1,494 coaches and more than 30,000 freight wagons.[10]
^Directory of Railway Officials & Yearbook. Tothill Press. 1954. p. 114. It comprises the whole of the former North-Western system of British India except the lines in the south-eastern Punjab, now the Eastern Punjab Railway of India.
^Reed, Sir Stanley (1949). The Times of India Directory and Year Book. Times of India Press. Retrieved 26 November 2016. On that day the Indian portion of tile North-Western was constituted into Eastern Punjab Railway, and the parts of the Bengal- Assam in the province of Assam were formed Into Assam Railway.
North Western Railway Magazine - Monthly staff magazine. Some editorial content published in Urdu . No BL holdings. 2 copies (November 1942, December 1945) are held in the Berridge Papers, Cambridge South Asian Archive.
Photograph of Troops travelling by train taken by Private J W Linley of the 2nd Battalion, The Northamptonshire Regiment compiled whilst serving in India 1923-1938. flickr.com/photos/northampton_museum
Some railway personnel in 1898. Page 179 Quarterly Civil List for the Punjab: Corrected up to 1st October 1898 Archive.org
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