* 
Chas. Davison—The Quetta Earthquake of 1892. Oo7 
Kandahar with the railway-system of North-western India. Leaving 
the main line at Sukkur, on the Indus, the new line passes by 
Jacobabad, Sibi and Quetta; and, about forty or fifty miles beyond 
the latter place, it cuts through the Khojak Range in a tunnel nearly 
two-and-a-half miles long, emerging afterwards on the plain of 
Kandahar. Mr. Egerton’s map of the district on either side of the 
Khojak tunnel is given in Fig. 1. As the country beyond is little 
frequented by Europeans, the limits of the disturbed area must 
probably remain unknown, but part or the whole of the epicentrum 
certainly lies within the district shown in this map.* 
Mr. Egerton was stationed at Shalabagh, on the east side of the 
Khojak Range. The shock was felt there at 5.40 am. (probably 
local time), and was strong enough to damage buildings, rendering 
many of them unsafe, and throwing several down. “In the Khojak 
tunnel,” according to the “ Pioneer” newspaper, “the noise was 
deafening, and workmen engaged on the roofing were thrown from 
their perches to the ground.” After this earthquake slight shocks 
were frequently felt, sometimes two or three a day during the first 
month, then almost daily until the end of February, after which the 
intervals between them became longer, so that during May only 
about two or three tremors were felt every week. None of these 
shocks approached the first in severity, though for some time they 
were strong enough to keep the engineers in continual fear for the 
safety of the tunnel. 
The phenomena of chief interest occurred in the epicentral tract 
which lies immediately on the west side of the Khojak Range. 
Between Sanzal and Chaman stations, and about 24 miles north of 
the former, both lines of metals, together with the sleepers, were 
twisted into a loop, as if they had been pieces of string (Figs. 2 
and 3). Fig. 3 is copied from a photograph taken by Mr. L. Gordon, 
the traffic superintendent of the district. Both lines were contorted 
in the same manner, but the up-line was removed for repairs before 
the photograph could be taken. 
The bending and crumpling of railway-lines is not an uncommon 
result of severe earthquakes. During the Charleston earthquake of 
August 51, 1886, the lines were in places bent or displaced for about 
twelve miles on either side of the epicentrum. In the region of 
maximum disturbance, the flexures were frequent and sometimes 
resembled those shown in Fig. 3. Here, the buckling always took 
place against some rigid obstacle, usually a long rigid trestle, and 
was accompanied by a corresponding extension of the line in the 
neighbourhood, by the opening of the joints and shearing of the 
fish-plate bolts.? 
In the present case, however, all the neighbouring fish-joints were 
jammed up tight; and, when Mr. Egerton removed the crumpled 
lines, it was found that the new lines had to be cut 2 feet 3 inches 
1 Few atlases contain maps of the whole district. A rough sketch-map is given in 
Chambers’s Encyclopedia, vol i., article on ‘‘ Afghanistan.”’ 
2 Captain C. E. Dutton, The Charleston Earthquake of August 31, 1886; United 
States Geol. Survey, Ninth Ann. Rep., pp. 283-2965. 
