More than 4,000 years ago, there were builders making bricks in northern India. Little did they dream, however, that those bricks would find their way into a gigantic network of railways on the Indian subcontinent.

[Box on page 14]

Those Ancient Bricks

During British rule (1757-1947), railways in the Indian subcontinent proved ideal for the movement of troops over long distances. Within three years of the inauguration of India’s first train, engineers were laying tracks between Karachi and Lahore in what is today Pakistan. Stone was not available for ballast to stabilize the tracks, but near the village of Harappa, workmen found kiln-baked bricks. Scottish engineers John and William Brunton felt that these would make a suitable and economical substitute. While workers were unearthing the huge brick deposits, clay statuettes and seals inscribed in an unknown language turned up, but this did not cause a break in the all-important work of building the railroad. One hundred miles [160 km] of track was built on Harappa bricks. Sixty-five years later, archaeologists systematically excavated the Harappa site, unearthing remains of the astounding Indus Valley civilization, which dates back more than 4,000 years, contemporary with ancient Mesopotamia!