Letter:Eritrean railways win through

Sir: It is interesting to have news of the resurrection of the Eritrean Railway ("Old timers put Eritrea's trains back on the rails", 7 August). We resurrected it once before - in 1941.

This remarkable little railway was originally, I believe, built by the French. Its 95cm gauge track drops through barren mountains for 1.5 miles in the 40 miles from Asmara down to Massawa.

After the heroic victory at Keren by the 4th Indian Division the 10th Royal Engineers Railway Company followed up to get it running again. This we did, with the co-operation of the locals and I am pleased to see that they are resurrecting the railway yet again. We, at length, were sent back overland (via barges up the Nile) to the Western Desert for several more years.

ELLIS MILES

Stamford, Lincolnshire