Photo Gallery PART 1

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A Visit to the Ruins of the Hedjaz Railway in Saudi Arabia

[Photo 1] Ruin of a station building on the Hedjaz Railway [Photo 2] Interior of the station building [Photo 3] There were railroad maintenance facility, a Railway depot and a fort of Ottoman troop in Madain Saleh at the time of the First World War [Photo 4] A wreckage of a railway carriage deserted on the Railway siding in Madain Sahleh [Photo 5] The Train Depot in Madain Sahleh [Photo 6] A wreckage of a German made steam locomotive that was under restoration [Photo 7] Railway siding [Photo 8] Railway Maintenance Facilities [Photo 9] A wreckage of a part of a steam locomotive deserted around the Railway depot [Photo 10] From another angle

In the film Lawrence of Arabia there is a scene of T. E. Lawrence and his Bedouin troops blasting a train. The train was running on the Hedjaz Railway [Hejaz Railway / Hijaz Railway]. This Railway was laid by the Ottoman Empire and completed in 1908. The purpose of the Railway was to transport Moslem pilgrims from Damascus to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, though, Ottoman's ulterior motive was to mobilize its soldiers to these two holy cities quickly. The rail was laid only as far as Medina, but the remaining section from Medina to Mecca was never completed. After the First World War when Ottomans relinquished this region, the Railway operation was left to the hand of the respective countries along the railroad. In the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Railway is still in operation, but in the territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the the Hedjaz Railway has never been operative since then. If you have a chance to live in Saudi Arabia and you speak Arabic and have a 4WD car, you would be lucky, because you can visit historic sites of the Hedjaz Railway by yourself. When I was an employee posted to the Saudi Arabia office of a Japanese company, I happen to see photographs of a broken and deserted steam locomotive in an in-flight magazine of Saudia Airline. The locomotive was sitting in the desert somewhere around Tabuk, a city in the north-west region of Saudi Arabia, but the exact location was not known. I wanted to go there, but I couldn't, because I did not posses even basic knowledge of Arabic language that may be required for treasure hunting in Arabia Deserta. There was (most probably there is) also a chance for those who have neither Arabic knowledge nor 4WD car to visit the Hedjaz Railway sites. All we have to do is to find more than 15 traveling companions who might be interested in visiting the ancient Nabataean ruin in a Madain Saleh [Medain Salih], 600 kilometers (straight line) in the north of Jidda [Jeddah] and to book rooms in Sheraton Hotel in Medina. Very fortunately, there were 25 positive responses to my invitation to the members of the Japanese Association in Jidda. In November 1993, we stayed one night in the Sheraton Hotel. The hotel arranged a big fully air-conditioned sightseeing bus to and from Madain Saleh. The 15 passengers were the minimum number for bus to operate. The bus left the hotel before 6 am in the following morning. The express way from Medina to Madain Saleh is running in a wide dried riverbed (Wadi) along the discontinued the Hedjaz Railway. We saw a long line of railway poles from the bus window. There were also the station buildings that were placed with several kilometers regular interval. [Photo 1] There were still the wreckages of the railway carriages around some of railway stations. There are so many stations on the the Hedjaz Railway, that made us suppose that many local people were using this railway. But, it is unlikely. I guess that stations were mainly designed for providing passengers with opportunities of rest stops on the long journey under the burning sun. [Photo 2] At midday, our bus arrived at the entrance of the Nabataean historic sites of Madain Saleh, the place Lawrence had mentioned in his Seven Pillars of Wisdom. The ruins of Madain Saleh deserves opening a separate new chapter. We made a 2 to 3 hours promenade in the historic sites and arrived at the Hedjaz Railway depot and maintenance facilities a few kilometers away from the Nabataean ruins. Outside of the depot, there were piles of bogies, wheel and other railway equipment and materials. On the railway siding, we saw wreckages of railway carriages. Their condition was so bad that I could not tell whether they are for passenger car or goods wagon. A steam locomotive was under restoration in the railway depot. The locomotive was so heavily damaged that we suppose it might have been the one that was blown up by Lawrence. [Photo 3-10] Now, I wish I could visit Saudi Arabia and Jordan again in order to make a trip all through the the Hedjaz Railway line. HAGITANI Atsushi, Japan, 2002