Steam in the Middle East 2007

Thomas Kautzor took part in FarRail’s tour on the Hedjaz Railway between October 15th to 21st 2007, here is his report. As (almost) everywhere these days, it seems you get less and less 'bangs for your buck'. It is a moot point as to whether the local operators have got 'wise' or whether previous visiting operators have sewn the seeds of their own destruction by being too demanding in their search for the perfect picture... No prizes for guessing whom I blame!

A current Syrian 1050mm gauge steam stock list is at the end of the report.

International Train Damascus – Amman: 

This twice weekly mixed service ended about a year ago, after it was announced that a new standard gauge electrified high-speed line would be built to link the two capital cities. According to staff, there have been a few goods trains on demand after that date, but the last one run in May of this year (behind steam). The only traffic was textiles from Syria to Amman Customs (south of Qasir station). Although one rake of covered goods wagons remains at Damascus-Cadem station, most of the wagons in Jordan appear to have been scrapped already, and in Syria scrapping was ongoing at Dera’a, so there seems to be no way back. 

Chemin de Fer du Hedjaz (CFH), Syria (Oct. 15-19): 

On Oct. 15 we had a special train on the remaining section of the Translebanon railway between El Hame and Aïn-Fidje (10.4 km) with 2-6-0T No. 755. There had been regular trains on this section during the school holidays until one week before our arrival. The following day we traveled from Damascus to Dera’a on a mixed train behind 2-8-2 No. 262, which was barely ably to make it. At Dera’a we found 2-6-0T+T 66 and 2-8-0 161 had been moved inside the restored shed. Also present were 2-8-0s 91 and 160, and 0-4-0+0-4-2T+T 962, which had come down from Cadem three days before to pull our special trains. On Oct. 17, we made a first run into the Yarmuk Valley behind 160 (Borsig 9009/1914, with plate 9011 of No. 162), which had been recently restored into service and was very clean compared to the other locos. With the loco hauling the train down into the gorge, we were stopped by a landslide, which had damaged one of the rails shortly before the 6th tunnel. The landslide must have happened in the previous night, as the track had been inspected the day before. After having the engine push the train back up to Merzerib, where the engine run around the train, we went back into the gorge in order to try and get some photos as long the water lasted. Our first stop was to be at the 7th Tunnel/15th Bridge, but when the train went back for the runpast, the engine derailed. After some time, the engine was back on the tracks and we managed to get at least one shot before returning to Dera’a. In the afternoon, we had 91 and 160 with a goods train from Dera’a to Bosra. The following morning we did some shots just outside of Bosra as well as at the citadel with 160 and some goods cars, and in the afternoon one of the participants had chartered the De Dion railcar No. ACM 3 to take us from Bosra back to Dera’a. On Oct. 19, we returned into the Yarmuk Valley with 160. This time we made it as far as the 6th Tunnel, where we had run out of time and returned to Dera’a. Out of the four serviceable locos, only recently restored 160 performed well, and we did not get to use the Mallet 962, which was declared a failure by the engineer in charge. At the present there is no regular traffic in Syria. Work on the underground connection between Cadem and Kanawat station has not progressed so far, but it was said that the legal battle with the previous contractor had ended and that a new contractor had been found, and that work was to restart shortly. In 2005 a 5-car rake of Chinese air-conditioned coaches (Sifang Car Co. Ltd.) was delivered and is presently stored at Cadem. Two of the Romanian Co-Co DEs were missing (AV-401/2) and after inquiring, it turned out that these had been sent back to Romania about a year ago to be rebuilt, and were expected back in a month or two (although they should have been back for a long time already). According to staff, there were plans to use these together with the Chinese rake between Kanawat and Damascus Airport, however this would involve laying a third rail or a parallel narrow gauge track beside the standard gauge CFS line between the junction south of Cadem and the airport, which is east of the city and near the CFS line to Halab.

Jordan Hedjaz Railway, Jordan (Oct. 19-21):

On the 19th, we had 2-8-2 No. 51 with a mixed train from Zarqa to Amman (together with GE diesel 40213 as pilot). The following day we had 4-6-2 No. 82 with a passenger train from Amman to Qatrana. On the 21st, we had 2-8-2 No. 71 with a goods train from Amman to Qasir. Initially scheduled 2-8-2 No. 23 was said to be in non-operable condition. The Jordanian part of the trip was very disappointing because the management constantly kept renegotiating the agreed prices for the charter. Also, most of the locos had been repainted with golden domes and smoke-box doors and green axle-boxes (including the locos on display at Amman station), so it cost us U$ 300 per loco to have them repainted (negotiated down from U$500). Currently HJR only run special trains, and according to one staff ours was the 22nd this year, with most running from Amman to Qasir or Jizra, and behind a diesel. The railway also derives income from the 171 km portion of track that is leased to the Aqaba Railway Corp. south of Qatrana. All of the equipment for the Aqaba – Wadi Rum tourist service is currently stored at Amman station (4-6-2 No. 85 and 7 coaches, including the Royal Salon). There are no goods wagons left at Amman (except those used on our charter), and the large number of goods wagons previously stored at Libban station (27 km south of Amman) has been reduced to just a few through scrapping. Locos 2-8-2 No. 53 and 4-6-2 No. 81 are still stored at Libban. Off the railway, the following locos are preserved at universities: 2-6-2T No. 63 at Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq; 2-8-2 No. 73 at Mu’tah University, Karak; and 4-6-2 No. 84 at Amman University. 

Madinah Railway Museum, Saudi Arabia: 

I was able to get a first-hand account of the operations at Madinah through one of the Syrian loco drivers, Habib, as he had been on loan three times for two-week periods to run the locomotive there, the last one ending a month ago. The reason for this was that the contract of the previous Indian loco driver had not been renewed and he had returned to his country. During his stays, Habib would run 2-8-0 No. 105 (Hartmann 3465/1910) together with a restored third class passenger coach (Baume & Marpent 1905) six times daily between the shed and the station, a distance of 300 meters, and return. Due to the extremely high temperatures during the day, the runs would take place at night from 9 pm to 3 am.

CFH 

No.	Type	Builder	No.	Year	Length (m.)	Weight (t.)	Speed  (km/h.)	No.-1912	Situation 10/2007:
33	C-n2t	Hohenzollern	1904	1905	8.030	30.0	35	30	derelict Cadem (track 21)
34	C-n2t	Hohenzollern	2399	1908	8.030	30.0	35	72 ex 56	derelict Cadem (track 15)
35	C-n2t	Hohenzollern	2400	1908	8.030	30.0	35	73 ex 57	derelict Cadem (track 11.1) (formerly display at Zebedani)
37	C-n2t	Hohenzollern	2402	1908	8.030	30.0	35	75 ex 59	derelict Cadem (track 18.2)
61	1'C-n2t (ex 1'C-n2)	Jung	965	1906		32.0		32	derelict Cadem (track 11.2) (formerly display at Merzerib lake)
62	1'C-n2t (ex 1'C-n2)	Jung	966	1906		32.0		33	plinthed at Damascus-Kanawat (plate 1205/1906 of 1'D-n2 124)
66	1'C-n2t (ex 1'C-n2)	Jung	987	1907		32.0		47	stored Dera'a
90	1'D-n2	Hartmann	3039	1907	15.120	52/76	35	37	stored El Hame
91	1'D-n2	Hartmann	3040	1907	15.120	52/76	35	38	serviceable, with tender 90
93	1'D-n2	Hartmann	3042	1907	15.120	52/76	35	40	derelict Cadem (track 12), with tender 129
106	1'D-n2	Hartmann	3466	1910	16.410	55/84	35	65 / 81	derelict Cadem (track 5), with tender 98
160	1'D-h2	Borsig	9009	1914	12.675	49.5/66			serviceable (plate 9011 of 162)
161	1'D-h2	Borsig	9010	1914	12.675	49.5/66			stored Dera'a, with tender 127
162	1'D-h2	Borsig	9011	1914	12.675	49.5/66			derelict Cadem (track 3), without tender
259	1'D1'-h2	Hartmann	4028	1918	18.979	64.62/92.51	50		derelict Cadem (track 2), without tender
260	1'D1'-h2	Hartmann	4029	1918	18.979	64.62/92.51	50		under repair Cadem
261	1'D1'-h2	Hartmann	4030	1918	18.979	64.62/92.51	50		dismantled Cadem (track 27)
262	1'D1'-h2	Hartmann	4031	1918	18.979	64.62/92.51	50		serviceable, with tender 261/262/263
263	1'D1'-h2	Hartmann	4032	1918	18.979	64.62/92.51	50		derelict Cadem (next to works), without tender

CDS Steam locomotives (10/2007):