The Indian Railway Library was an enterprise conducted in Allahabad

Allahabad

Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...

 from 1888. It was a publishing venture of A.H. Wheeler & Co, who "had the monopoly on bookstall sales on Indian railway stations"
It was a series of pamphlets intended to catch the interest of railway passengers, and offer cheap 'throwaway' reading material. The series began as a result of an initiative by Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...

 as he sought to assemble funds to return to England from India in 1888: he approached the senior partner of A.H. Wheeler & Co, Emile Moreau

Émile Moreau

Émile Moreau was a French playwright and screenwriter. In co-operation with Victorien Sardou, he wrote the plays Madame Sans-Gêne and Cleopatre . He also wrote the play Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth, and the script for its film adaptation, and was one of the co-founders of the Indian...

, with the proposal to publish his stories in cheap booklet form. The booklets were to have grey-green cards covers, with illustrations by Rudyard's father John Lockwood Kipling

John Lockwood Kipling

John Lockwood Kipling, C.I.E. was an English art teacher, illustrator, museum curator, and father of author Rudyard Kipling.-Biography:...

. Six booklets were eventually produced, which sold at the price of one rupee. They were all by Rudyard Kipling, and consisted mainly of reprints of stories that had already appeared in various of the periodicals for which he was already writing in India. They were all published in 1888.

• No. 1: Soldiers Three
  Soldiers Three
  Soldiers Three is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. The three soldiers of the title are Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris, who had also appeared previously in the collection Plain Tales from the Hills...
  
  : a collection of stories setting forth certain passages in the lives and adventures of Privates Terence Mulvaney, Stanley Ortheris and John Learoyd done into type and edited by Rudyard Kipling., 97 pp: "Reprinted in chief from the Week’s news"
• No. 2: The Story of the Gadsbys
  The Story of the Gadsbys
  The Story of the Gadsbys is a story by Rudyard Kipling. It was originally published as no. 2 of the Indian Railway Library in 1888. The Story of the Gadsbys is written in dramatic form, consisting of eight short scenes...
  
  , 100 pp: "Reprinted in chief from the Week’s news"
• No. 3: In Black and White
  In Black and White (Kipling Stories)
  In Black and White is a collection of eight short stories by Rudyard Kipling which was first published in a booklet of 108 pages as no. 3 of A H Wheeler & Co.’s Indian Railway Library in 1888. It was subsequently published in a book along with nos 1 and 2, Soldiers Three and The Story of the...
  
  , 108 pp.: "Reprinted in chief from the Week’s news"
• No. 4: Under the Deodars
  Under the Deodars
  Under the Deodars is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling.-The Education of Otis Yeere:Mrs. Hauksbee decides to start a salon in Simla, but Mrs. Mallowe talks her out of it. She then explains to Mrs. Hauksbee that she's experiencing a mid-life crisis and that she came out of her own by...
  
  , 106 pp.: "Reprinted in chief from the Week’s news"
• No. 5: The Phantom 'Rickshaw and other Eerie Tales
  The Phantom 'Rickshaw and other Eerie Tales
  The Phantom 'Rickshaw and other Eerie Tales is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling.-The Phantom 'Rickshaw:After an affair with a Mrs. Agnes Keith-Wessington in Simla, the narrator, Jack, repudiates her and eventually becomes engaged to Miss Kitty Mannering. Yet Mrs...
  
  , 114 pp
• No. 6: Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories
  Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories
  Wee Willie Winkie and Other Child Stories is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling.-Wee Willie Winkie:Percival William Williams, who is affectionately called 'Wee Willie Winkie' because of the nursery rhyme, is the only son of the Colonel of the 195th. He makes good friends with a...
  
  , 104 pp.: "Reprinted in chief from the Week’s news"