Stores were sorted and piled as they came up by rail.
Three gunboats arrived in sections, and these were put together.

They were stronger, and much better defended by steel plates than the first gunboats; and each of them carried two six-pounder quick-firing guns, a small howitzer, four Maxims, and a searchlight.

They were, however, much slower than the old boats, and could do very little in the way of towing.
Besides these, eight steel double-deck troop barges were brought up, in sections, and put together.

Three Egyptian battalions came up from Merawi to aid in the work, which not only included building the gunboats and barges, but executing the repairs to all the native craft, and putting them in a thoroughly serviceable state.
In June the railway reached the Atbara, and for the first time for two years and a half, the officers who had superintended its construction had a temporary rest.

The stores were now transferred from Abadia to the Atbara, and two trains ran every day, each bringing up something like two hundred tons of stores.
In the middle of July two Egyptian battalions left Atbara and proceeded up the Nile, one on each bank, cutting down trees and piling them for fuel for the steamers.