Blown up train on the historical Ottoman Hejaz railway in Hadyjah, Saudi Arabia
Wikipedia: The Hejaz (or Hedjaz or Hijaz) railway (Turkish: Hicaz Demiryolu) was a narrow-gauge railway (1,050 mm / 3 ft 5 11⁄32 in track gauge) that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of modern day Saudi Arabia, with a branch line to Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and the original goal was to extend the line from the Haydarpaşa Terminal in Kadikoy beyond Damascus to the holy city of Mecca. However, construction was interrupted due to the outbreak of World War I, and it reached no further than Medina, 400 kilometres (250 mi) short of Mecca. The completed Damascus to Medina section was 1,300 kilometres (810 mi). The main purpose of the railway was to establish a connection between Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire and the seat of the Islamic Caliphate, and Hejaz in Arabia, the site of the holiest shrines of Islam and the holy city of Mecca, the destination of the Hajj annual pilgrimage. Another important reason was to improve the economic and political integration of the distant Arabian provinces into the Ottoman state, and to facilitate the transportation of military forces. The Emir Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca viewed the railway as a threat to Arab suzerainty, since it provided the Ottomans with easy access to their garrisons in Hejaz, Asir, and Yemen. From its outset, the railway was the target of attacks by local Arab tribes. These were never particularly successful, but neither were the Turks able to control areas more than a mile or so either side of the line. Due to the locals' habit of pulling up wooden sleepers to fuel their camp-fires, some sections of the track were laid on iron sleepers.
Size: 7360px × 4912px
Location: Hadiyah, Saudi Arabia.
Photo credit: © Bert de Ruiter / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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