AndrewGrantham.co.uk

Rainer Fuchs’s Iraq railway stamps website has a PDF copy of a wonderful article published by The Railway Magazine in April 1928, entitled The Railways of Mesopotatmia by Richard Coke.

There is also a copy of Rainer’s own article “Iraq Railway Post 1928 - c.1942″, published in the October 2007 issue of The American Philatelist, the monthly publication of the American Philatelic Society.

A press release from 23 September 2007

For Immediate Release
Release No. 070923-1
September 23, 2007
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Basrah Railroad Station Turned Over to the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation
Gulf Region South district

Basrah, Iraq — The rehabilitation of the Basrah railroad station, one of the main transportation projects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the south of Iraq, marks an important achievement in developing the basic transportation services and strategic infrastructure for the Iraqi people.

“The Basrah Railroad station was recently completed and turned over to the Iraqi Ministry of Transportation,” said Rebecca Wingfield, GRS project engineer with Adder Area Office. “This $480,000 project does not only help to develop the basic services and the strategic infrastructure, but it provides a critical link for the country of Iraq. It ties the southern portion of the country with the northern portion.”

Wingfield said the Basrah railroad station was unusable without renovation, noting that the structure of the building was damaged and unsafe and that the platforms and the walkways were torn up or removed.

An Iraqi engineer said work on this facility included the construction of many outer buildings as well as rehabilitation to the existing structures. In addition, he said, the platforms and sidewalks were replaced so people could get on and off the trains.

“Transporting goods and services is extremely important for any growing region and economy,” Wingfield said. “The railroad system will continue to grow in serving the Iraqi people while [they are] rebuilding their country.”

She said the mission of the Gulf Region South district throughout Basrah Province includes performing site evaluations and rehabilitation work on seven railway stations, many of which were looted and damaged after the fall of Saddam Hussein. She said the goal is to repair the stations and make them safe and efficient once again.

“The railroad [is a] main source of transportation and the major transporter of goods, materials and people throughout the country of Iraq,” Wingfield said. “This project was to install all new platforms and walkways as well as renovating portions of the interior of the station and exterior façade.

“These improvements will greatly facilitate enhanced operations at this site,” she added. “We applaud the Iraqi team with whom we have closely worked in making this challenge become a reality.”

The Iraqi engineer said rebuilding the rail industry in Basrah is very important to Iraq’s economy. Basrah, one of the oldest cities in Iraq, has a great impact on the country’s economy.

“The Iraq railroad system provides efficient, reliable transportation,” the engineer said. “It is also essential for trade and commerce from the port and business centers in Southern Iraq to the population centers in Northern Iraq.

“Iraq has a network of 2,603 kilometers and the main railway routes are Baghdad –Husaiba and Umm Qasr/Basrah – Baghdad” he said, pointing out that there are also branches to Kirkuk and Akashat.

AFP reports on November 21:

Afghanistan has chosen a Chinese bidder to lease a copper mine which is possibly the world’s largest, in a contract that is set to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, the mines ministry said Tuesday [20 November 2007].

The 30-year lease has been offered to China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) to develop the Aynak mine 30 kilometres (20 miles) east of Kabul, a Afghan mines ministry spokesman said.

China’s commerce ministry said in a statement on its website that MCC, a state-owned metal producer and contractor, and Jiangxi Copper Co. would jointly develop the mine.

MCC, expected to sign a deal in the coming months, is to invest around three billion dollars to explore and develop the mine, which will also provide jobs for thousands of Afghans, Afghan ministry spokesman Kozhman Ulomi said.

…
The company also said it would build a railway line from the town of Hairatan on the Amu Darya (Oxys River) bordering Uzbekistan, through Logar and to Torkham on the Pakistan border to export the minerals, the official said.

It added that it would construct a town near the mine for 1,500 families. Other spinoffs would include extra demand for Afghan coal and the creation of small industries using other metal taken from the mine, he said.

First discovered in 1974, the mine is estimated to contain 11.3 million tonnes of copper. About 200,000 tonnes could be extracted a year, Ulomi said.

The reason I’d been looking at an old map of the North York Moors was to identify an odd bunker my parents had come across in the middle of nowhere on Kildale Moor (grid reference NZ6012). It turns out to be a Starfish bombing decoy, but I much prefer the idea of it being a troll’s house.

Perusing a 1963 Ordnance Survey map, I noticed a long-gone bit of railway which I’d never noticed before, running off the Middlesbrough - Saltburn line at Ryehill Farm between Redcar and Marske. A bit of Googling finds references to Marske aerodrome, complete with photos of the sound mirror from 1983.

Plus some more pictures of the Marske mirror

My photos of the Marske mirror

An e-mail from Lawrence Naylor which I’d forgotten to upload tells us: I worked at the Ibn al Bitar hospital in Baghdad from 1985 to 1989. I talked with the locals on a friendly basis and they told me that a longtime unused run-down building 100 yards opposite the hospital entrance was the original last stop of the Baghdad railway. The tracks had long been removed and partially tarmaced.