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The record is made up of 1 file (388 folios). It was created in 17 Jan 1899-4 Apr 1904. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
(Confidential.)
/\
Reconnaissance for a Railway between Uushki and the Perso-Afghan
Frontier near Robat.
Nushki-Robat
Nushki-Afghan Frontier
Nushki-Bund-i-Kamal Khan (on Helmand)
360 miles.
344 „
406 „
Unlike the reconnaissance of the Helmand route, this was a genuine
investigation of the most suitable alignment for a railway between Nushki
and the places noted above; and the plan and section submitted may be
regarded as indicating the eventual location of the line within the usual
narrow limits.
Some easy bank and
cutting
Note. - On maps Ekmach and Yakmach,
same word.
It is the
The main features of the alignment from an engineering point of view
are easily explained. For the first third of its length, until within a few miles
of Dalbandin, the line runs along the northern glacis of the Sheikh Hussain,
Has Koh, and Kambaran range. Near Dalbandin it crosses a narrow belt of
sandhills and attains the southern glacis of the Chageb, Koh-i-Sultan, and
neighbouring mountains, along which its middle third lies. The remaining
third from Ware Sahib Chah to Kobat is on the northern glacis of the
Saindak, Kacha Koh, and Kobat range. The general direction of the line
varies from south-west at Nushki to north-west at Robat, and is in the form
of a crescent concave towards the north. From end to end of its 360 miles
of length a cheap line could be built without any works whatever, except a
short low bridge or two at Baghak below Nushki.
Elsewhere “ Dips ” could be made at all nulla crossings with a minimum
of cutting, and the preliminary dressing of the formation would be of the
lightest description.
will be required through the sand belt at
Dalbandin; and, beyond Ekmach, my
alignment should, perhaps, be kept a little
more to the south, so as to reach the point where the watercourses finally
merge in the plain, or, at any rate, become mere shallow wide depressions. This
portion of the reconnaissance from Ekmach to Trato was made on days of
continuous duststorms, when, though I followed a compass bearing, it was
impossible to fix my position on the map at any intermediate point. The line
on the plan, therefore, may not quite coincide with the correct route, and may
be drawn rather further to the north than intended. I mention the matter as
the difference of a mile or two on a talus is sufficient to make all the differ
ence between a surface line, with “ Dips” only, and one with considerable
bridging.
A few curves will be necessary between Mushki Chah and Ware Sahib
Chah to avoid some isolated rocky mounds, but minute details of this descrip
tion need scarcely be dwelt on in a reconnaissance report. Suffice it to say
that it would be difficult anywhere in India to find an equal length of line
either cheaper to construct or less easy to damage.
Unlinking the rails and sleepers, and making bonfires of the latter, is the
only way in which traffic could be interrupted. For this reason it would,
perhaps, be desirable to use steel sleepers throughout. The shingle and grit of
these glacis is just the road bed that suits them, while the short stretches of
earthy plain and marsh could be thoroughly well ballasted.
Another advantage of the steel sleeper over the wooden in a line of this
description is that it has no tendency to float when a rush of water crosses a
“ Dip.”
In locating the alignment the engineer’s aim should be to keep as far as
possible on the lower edge of the glacis, where the shingle makes a natural
I : s
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers relating to Seistan [Sistan] and Persia [Iran].
The file includes printed copies of despatches from the Agent to the Governor-General of India and HM Consul-General for Khorasan and Seistan (Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Martindale Temple), to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, with enclosed despatches from Captain Percy Molesworth Sykes to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (the Marquis of Salisbury). Skyes’s despatches regard matters including: Seistan; trade routes into South-East Persia; the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan, in relation to the River Helmund [Helmand] changing its course (in despatch No. 5, which includes four sketch maps, folios 12, 13, 14 and 15); Sykes’s journey to Birjand (in despatch No. 7, which includes a sketch map on folio 20); the ruling family of Kain, which also governed Seistan, Tabbas and Tun; Sykes’s journey from Seistan to Kerman [Kirman] (in despatch No. 11, which includes a sketch map); and the direct Kerman-Quetta caravan trade that Sykes was trying to establish.
The file also includes copies of the following papers:
- A despatch from Temple to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing a letter from Temple to Sir Henry Mortimer Durand (HM Minister, Tehran), with copies of enclosures, regarding the establishment of a Seistan and Kain consulate
- A letter from Charles Edward Pitman, Director General of Telegraphs, to the Secretary to the Government of India Public Works Department, enclosing a copy of a ‘Report on the Preliminary Survey of the Route for a Telegraph Line from Quetta to the Persian Frontier’ by H A Armstrong, Assistant Superintendent, Indian Telegraph Department, which includes six photographs of views along the route [Mss Eur F111/352, f 52; Mss Eur F111/352, f 53; Mss Eur F111/352, f 54; Mss Eur F111/352, f 55; Mss Eur F111/352, f 56; and Mss Eur F111/352, f 57], and a map showing the proposed route of the telegraph line [Mss Eur F111/352, f 59]
- Letters from Hugh Shakespear Barnes, Agent to the Governor-General in Baluchistan, to the Secretary to the Government of India Foreign Department, enclosing copies of the diary of the Political Assistant, Chagai, for the weeks ending 16 February, 28 February, and 8 March 1900
- Diary No. 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 of Major-General George Frederick Chenevix-Trench, HM Consul for Seistan (Diary No. 6 includes a sketch map, folio 86)
- A copy of a ‘Report on Reconnaissances Made while Attached to the Seistan Arbitration Commission’ by W A Johns, Deputy Consulting Engineer for Railways, Bombay
- A copy of the report ‘Notes on Persian Seistan’, compiled by Captain Edward Abadie Plunkett, and issued by the Government of India Intelligence Branch, Quarter-Master General’s Department
- Two copies of map signed by Plunkett titled ‘Persian Seistan-Cultivated Area’ [Mss Eur F111/352, f 270]
- A booklet entitled ‘Notes on the Leading Notables, Officials, Merchants, and Clergy of Khorasan, Seistan, Kain, and Kerman.’
- Printed copies of letters from the Government of India Foreign Department to the Secretary of State for India (Lord George Francis Hamilton), relating to the maintenance of British interests in Persia, dated 4 September 1899 and 7 November 1901 (the former with an enclosure of a minute by the Viceroy on Seistan).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (388 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the front to the rear of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 390; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The file contains one foliation anomaly, f 301A
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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'Seistan' [121r] (241/782), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F111/352, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069721604.0x00002c> [accessed 28 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F111/352
- Title
- 'Seistan'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:51v, 58r:58v, 60r:112r, 113r:125v, 147r:218r, 218r, 219r:269v, 271r:301v, 301Ar, 301Av, 302r:388v, 389v:390r, 389r, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence