This is the first of what I hope will be a few articles about the Railways of Iran. It focusses on the first line built between Tehran and Rey and operating from 1888 to around 1960-61. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/03/23/railways-in-iran-part-1-tehran-to-rey-1888
This is the next installment covering the Railways of Iran. ...... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/03/24/railways-in-iran-part-2-the-1910-to-1945
After the War, Iran's railways experienced a period of relative stagnation. Significant developments did not occur until the 1950s. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/03/28/railways-in-iran-part-3-1945-to-the-1960s
The rule of the Shah in the 1970s became increasingly authoritarian. The royal family appropriated a large amount of the country's income for themselves and gradually the clerics became less and less content with the ruling classes. The result, as we know, was major political change at the end of the decade. The railways continued to serve the country and saw some significant developments during the decade. I hope you find this next article interesting. ... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/03/30/railways-in-iran-part-4-1970s
While undertaking the research for these articles on the railways in Iran. I was delighted to find some material in a number of European language posted on a thread about the Railways of Iran on the SJK Postvagen forum. This next post is numbered out of sequence as I have already begun work of the period from the 1980s onwards, but the material is really interesting (in my view). I have had to use Google Translate to get the first draft of the different papers referred to in the link article and then I have had to clarify or paraphrase a number of things to make the text work in English. .... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/04/03/railways-in-iran-part-6-foreign-articles-collection-a
I seem to have quite a number of unfinished articles on the Railways of Iran. Some are taking longer than others to complete. This is Part 9! I still have parts 5, 7 and 8 to complete and I hope that there will be at least 3 others to follow. This post includes two articles from journals in other countries translated for an English audience. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/04/10/railways-in-iran-part-9-foreign-articles-collection-c
To finish the collection of translated articles from other sources, this post focuses on chapters from a book written in Danish in the 1930s about the filming of a documentary about the building of the Tran-Iranian Railway. ...... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/04/13/railways-in-iran-part-8-foreign-articles-collection-b
Being locked-down has given me time to do things programmed for the future. The Easter bank holidays here have also created some space as well!
After the Revolution. ...... This next post brings the story of the Railways of Iran up to the Millenium. .... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/04/13/railways-in-iran-part-5-from-1980-to-1999
One of the joys of doing research is discovering little gems in surprising places. This happened to me just recently as I was searching for information and particularly for images associated with the railways of Iran up to the end of the Second World War. The result is this next article which I have agreed with Lancaster City Museum and the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum. ...... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/04/13/railways-in-iran-part-12-photographs-from-the-second-world-war
Both of the accidents shown were stated to be runaways. Has me wondering- What type of braking systems were in use? Were they all equipped with modern air brakes?
Thanks for these articles. I'm enjoying them. All the WWII activity was due to the big German battleship Tirpitz, sister of the famous Bismarck. Hitler stationed her in Norway where she was a threat to the convoys to Murmansk. In fact, the British and Americans assigned two battleships to each Murmansk convoy, one slow and one fast. If the Tirpitz appeared, the fast battleship was tasked with trying to run her down, while the other stayed with the convoy. There were only so many battleships, and several jobs for them to do. So they couldn't protect as many convoys as the USSR needed. Your explanation of the U.S. roadswitcher is not quite correct. They were certainly used on through freights, and they were certainly used for switching (shunting). So, you are not wrong. But the reason ALCO gave for inventing them was this: The U.S. had at that time innumerable branch lines. Many of these hosted but one train a day. Some supported one each way per day, and on others trains went this direction on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and returned that direction Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. These trains took care of every customer, and even gave passengers (if any) a slow ride with many stops. Some branch lines did not have a wye or turntable at the end, so steam locomotives had to run some miles pushing their tenders. The roadswitcher provided visibility both directions, and protection for the crew in case of a collision when going either directions. So, it was built for switching (shunting), but not necessarily yard switching. They were built for switching customer sidings out away from the yard, on the road, in any local freight service. But I wouldn't change that in the article unless you can find a more succinct way to put it than I just did. It's kind if off the topic. The RSD-1 was reverse-engineered by the USSR, and their version was used for many decades. I've never heard of the ALCOs being shipped to Russia, however, so they may have copied one that was in Trans-Iranian service. All in all, the Trans-Iranian was interesting and very historic. Thank you for being the one to finally chronicle it!
Thank you for all the comments. They are very much appreciated. I trust you and your are well during this difficult and strange time. ... Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk
This next post gives some insight into the rail network in Iran at the moment. I must acknowledge that it is not a comprehensive report on Iran's Railways in the 21st Century, merely a snapshot of what has been happening. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/04/2...ections-on-irans-railways-in-the-21st-century
This is probably my penultimate post on the railways of Iran. I want, at some stage to review what is known about the railways which served the Oil fields in the South of Iran and a final installment. This post looks at the various forms of motive power on the railways of Iran since the first line was built before the turn of the 20th Century. I cannot guarantee that this survey is completely comprehensive. ....... http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/06/30/railways-in-iran-part-10-motive-power
The Anglo-Persian Oil Company which became the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and then BP maintained a number of narrow gauge lines. This post covers a 2ft 6in gauge line (The Dar-I-Khazineh Fields Railway) providing access to the first oilfield in the Middle East and a 3ft gauge line which served its refinery at Abadan. http://rogerfarnworth.com/2020/11/19/railways-in-iran-part-11-anglo-persian-oil-company-ltd
Recently, reading old copies of BackTrack magazine, I came across an article which included memories from an Army engineer of time spent in Iran in the early 1940s and in the same issue of the magazine a short note about the involvement of the GWR in Iran. These seemed to be fitting items for an addendum to this series of articles. This is the link to the new post. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2021/09/14/railways-in-iran-an-addendum