Thomas Kautzor writes of his visit between 3rd and 5th May 2024 and a
further 4 day visit in December 2025 (parts 6 and 7).
From Al Ula to Zumrud, the line still follows Route 375, the desert highway to Medina.
Al Bada’i (km 1003):
25-man fort, store, wind pump and 2-tank water tower. Opposite AlUla International Airport.
Mashad (km 1013):
25-man fort. Nearby is a station on the new bike path from Al Ula, which ends halfway between here and the next station.
Sahel Mutran (km 1029):
25-man fort.
Zumrud (km 1048):
25-man fort, large ballast storage, Ottoman castle nearby.
Bir Jadid (km 1079):
Not visited; 25-man fort, 2-tank water tower.
Tuwaira (Attobara)(km 1099):
Not visited; 25-man fort.
Wayban (km 1116):
Not visited; 15-man fort.
(km 1121)
(See also Part 7):
In 2025 I found that HR 2-8-0 N°. 151 (SLM 2286/1912) reported here (see
below) has completely disappeared, there is no trace of it left.
Not visited in 2024 (I did drive over the ballast track bed to Al Mudarraj, but thought this was south of it);
This was the site of a train attack, at which a 2-8-0, its tender and two carriages were derailed by an explosion. Although T.E. Lawrence did his second attack on a train at this location in 04.1917, this was in fact the result of an attack by a party led by Farhan El Aida on 11.11.1918, the news of the Armistice not having reached them yet. The attack of the train and of Wayban station resulted in the capture of 154 prisoners, including 7 officers, and one mountain gun and a machine gun.
Most sources show the loco as 2-8-0 151 (SLM 2286/1912), as identified by Dieter Noll, while Gerhard Henrich has it as No. 157. In 10.2012 the wrecked vehicles were still on site, but thereafter everything was cut up and the only thing that remained on site was the front of the frames of the loco with the cylinders, according to João Leitão
(https://maps.app.goo.gl/BxA1SJLJ7isiU39q7, photos dated 12.2018, posted 12.2024).
Al Mudarraj (km 1126):
25-man fort.
(km 1143)
Wadi Al Jizi bridge no.13
Hadiyah (km 1144):
This major station consists of a 25- and a 15-man fort, a 2-tank water tower, two water cranes and a triangle. A pump house is positioned south of the Wadi al-Jizl bridge (410m with 28 arches) 1 km north of here. Troops were housed in a number of barracks nearby and amounted to 1100 during WWI. The hilltops around the site are dotted with complex defence lines.
Two trains were stranded here: headed by 0-6-0T 17 (Krauss 5238/1904, ex 22) at the head of a 6-car train (1 covered wagon, 1 high-sided open wagon, 1 tender, 3 flats/chassis) at the tip of the triangle, and a 7-car train (2 4-wheel open, 2 covered, 1 high-sided open and 1 low-sided open wagons) on a siding at the south end of the station. The loco-headed train was still standing upright in 1987, but had been tipped on its side by 1998 to remove the rails underneath it. The loco has since lost its firebox. The 7-car train was cut up for scrap between 10.2020 and 08.2023 and all that remains is the cut-off end of the low-sided open wagon and a cut-up bogie chassis.
The loco-headed train is most likely one of the 1923/24 pilgrim trains which ended up stranded here after running out of fuel or water. Loco 17 was one the locos loaned from Syria in 1923 and the description of the train matches with that of the post-WWI pilgrim trains.
