Jordan & Syria, 2000

This gallery contains photographs of trains on the Hedjaz Railway in Jordan and Syria in the year 2000, before the unrest in the area.

These photographs were taken on an Enthusiast Holidays tour, organised by Vic Allen and led by Hugh Ballantine, in September 2000.  They are mainly of steam trains chartered for the tour group on the old Hejaz Railway.

The Hedjaz Railway was originally built to transport pilgrims from the city of Damascus in Syria to the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia.  This 1050mm gauge railway was completed in 1908, but was severely damaged during the First World War (1914-1918) by Lawrence of Arabia and the Arab Revolt.

In 2000 a short portion of the railway was still in use for passenger and freight trains between Amman, in Jordan, and Damascus, in Syria.  An attraction was that some freight trains between Damascus and Daraa in Syria were still steam hauled at this late date.  Also there were steam-hauled trains on Fridays from Damascus into the hills nearby and steam trains could also be chartered for some other, disused, parts of the railway, such as south of Amman in Jordan and the Yarmuk Gorge in Syria.

This gallery is dedicated to the railway men of Jordan and Syria who’s hard and enthusiastic work made this tour so successful.

Photographs 10/9/00, morning, Amman to Qasir (on the southern outskirts of Amman) with 2-8-2 51.

Photographs 10/9/00, afternoon, Amman towards Qasir (on the southern outskirts of Amman) with 2-8-2 71.

Photographs 11/9/00, Qatrana (in the desert south of Amman) north towards Amman  with 2-8-2 51.

Jordan

Photographs around Amman station.

Photographs 12/9/00, morning, Amman towards Qasir (on the southern outskirts of Amman) with 4-6-2 82.

Syria

Photographs 12/9/00, afternoon, run-pasts in Daraa with 2-6-0T+T 66.

Photographs 13/9/00, morning, from Daraa westwards down the Yarmuk Gorge as far as Zeizoun station and return with 2-8-2 262.

Photographs 13/9/00, afternoon, from Daraa northwards to Damascus.

Photographs 14/9/00, from Damascus northwards towards the border with Lebanon at Serghaya and return with 0-6-2T 805.

Photographs 15/9/00, afternoon, from Damascus northwards to Teqieh and return with 0-6-2T 805.

Photographs 15/9/00, morning, visit to Cadem locomotive works.

Photographs 16/9/00, morning, from Bosra to Daraa with 2-8-2 262.

Jordan

Photographs 16/9/00, afternoon, from Mafraq (north of Amman) to Amman with 4-6-2 82.

Many of the photographs in these railway photograph galleries are available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.  Attribution should include a link to www.nigeltout.com.