Hejaz Railway

From Hejaz Railway Station along Route 375, Medina Provice. December 2017

If Syria finally calms down and Jordan and Saudi Arabia wanted to cooperate, they all could revive the Hejaz Railway line as an incredible tourist journey through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Middle East. In my time in Saudi Arabia by chance I saw much of the line and on one of my visits to Amman I passed by the old station as well. Additionally, in Israel I realized that a spur line went to the coast with stops in Haifa and Akre, a place I travelled to by train. It seems that railway line was a theme of mine during my years in the Middle East without my ever realizing it.

The Hejaz Railway was one of the last great projects of the fading Ottoman Empire. At the turn of the 20th century the grand plan was to connect Istanbul to Mecca. Ostensibly, the plan was to bring pilgrims safely to the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. By coincidence, it was also a way to bring troops into an increasingly restive Arabian Peninsula beginning to show signs of nationhood. Enter Lawrence of Arabia, who sided with the Arabs in Jordan and Saudi Arabia to blow up and otherwise foil the Ottoman Turks in their occupation of that land. In the end, the railway line only ever was active a few years and connected Damascus and Medina. Portions of it remained in use after the Middle East was carved up into its present form, but eventually those lines were, too, abandoned. The railway was narrow-gauge which meant very slow moving trains. Little money was put into maintenance and the great project had fallen into disused literally just after opening.

On my trip to Tabuk [see: Tabuk], AM and I passed by the very grand Tabuk Railway Museum, but it was closed. It did look impressive and had I known that the Hejaz Railway was to become my companion of sorts while in Saudi Arabia, I would have made more of an effort to visit. Additionally, on our drive south from Tabuk to Madain Saleh [see: Madain Saleh], we paralleled the line the whole way. Most interesting were all the small "service stations". The Hejaz Railway needed fuel and water to work those steam engines and there were a lot of outbuildings dotting the line on that drive. At Madain Saleh itself there was a small railway station museum, too.

So began my connection with the Hejaz Railway.

On the Black and White Volcanoes adventure [see: Black and White Volcanoes], brothers aQ and I passed by the old Medina Station before once again paralleling the line north as we drove to Madain Saleh. The photo above is from one old station in the middle of nowhere that we explored. There was a huge hole dug in the floor of the building (it almost looked like a bomb went off) and we found out later that it was rumored gold was buried there and treasure seekers came looking for it. The stories surrounding that railway line were myriad. We also visited the Railway Museum in Madain Saleh on that visit. I give credit to the Saudis for accurately portraying the Ottomans as building it with the Arabs-to-become-Saudis being just peasants in the background.

On one of my trips to Amman, NH and I drove by the Hejaz Railway Station (still in use!) and I felt excited to see it, like I was meeting up with an old friend. We paralleled some of the old line as we drove north to see some of the "desert castles" and "Umm al Jamal". Clearly the Hejaz Railway followed me wherever I travelled.

Finally, and surprisingly, while in Israel I found in old Akre that the railway station was the end of a spur line connecting the port of Akre to Amman. Nothing remained of that original station although the Ottoman station in Jerusalem (different line) still stood and had been renovated recently into a tourist spot. Akre was my last contact with the line, although something tells me I might just run into again. The Hejaz Railway always seems to find me.