The Atbara is a river in northeast Africa, which rises in northwest Ethiopia and flows about 805 km (500 miles) to the Sudan. For much of the year, it is little more than a stream, except during the rainy season (generally June to October). The river is known in its early stages in Ethiopia as the Takazze and as the Setit in western Ethiopia and eastern Sudan. It is the last tributary of the Nile before it reaches the Mediterranean. In 1964, the river was dammed at Kashm-el-Girba in Sudan to provide irrigation in an otherwise fairly arid region.
A major battle was fought beside the river in April 1898 between forces of the Khalifa of Sudan and the British Empire, which resulted in the Khalifa's 20,000-strong detachment being destroyed by the British.
Atbara is also a town in northeastern Sudan, with a population of about 73,000 people, at the point where the Atbara river joins the Nile. It is an important railway junction and manufacturing centre.
This article should be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page.
The name of 'Atbara' for the class was due to the Boer war being fought in South Africa when the class was first built, therefore it was thought "proper" to the use the names which were so much in the public eye.
The first 'Atbara' withdrawn was number 3382 Mafeking which was scrapped in September 1911 after a severe accident at Henley-in-Arden.
When 4-6-0 express passenger locomotive construction resumed in 1922, the 'Atbaras' at first were relegated to stopping train workings, but eventually the class became surplus to requirements and withdrawals began in April 1927 with number 4125 (ex 3378) Khartoum.
In the fighting between the Sudanese and the British occupants, the battle of 1898 in Atbara was a turning point.
Atbara is situated on the point where the river Atbara meets the Nile, on the northern side of Atbara, and eastern of the Nile.
The river Atbara has low water during long seasons each year, this much due to not too clever containment policy, as well as the rain situation up in the Ethiopian mountains.
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