Much the same feeling, but with a very explainable history, pervades the traveler on seeing his first complete steam locomotive in the desert on the Hejaz.

Many are the detritus of battle that still litters parts of the Hejaz Railway and have an immediacy and impact that the now grassy sites of Culloden and Agincourt or Flanders no longer retain.

Spikes of discarded rails signpost the course of the old railway along the 150 km of crumbling rail bed from the hamlet of Dhaa southward to Madinah and sections of rusting trains still lie beside the track-bed.

The railway was built between 1900 and 1906 ostensibly to carry pilgrims from Damascus to Makkah; however, it only ever reached Madinah. In trouble from its inception from local camel caravan operators who correctly saw it as threat to their pilgrim transport business, the railway was often attacked.

A pilgrim could travel from Damascus to Madinah for about £3 and 10 shillings in three days instead of spending £40 and taking two to three months by camel train.  More prosaically, the wooden sleepers supporting the track were an attractive source of fuel for the local Bedouin and eventually led to the replacement of wooden sleepers with metal ones.

The railway was a focus of attention for T. E. Lawrence and the Arab fighters attacking the Turkish in the fist quarter of the 20th Century.  There is a palpable sense of history in the air, especially when pushing a finger into bullet holes that pepper some of the hulks.

Hadiyah Station for example bears witness to the good idea that the railway was and to its turbulent history, with its complement of black basalt buildings was an important stopping point for trains on the Hejaz Railway.  The typical two-story blockhouse, water tower and single story building stand either side of a vital water tower. On a siding opposite the blockhouse, is a 0-6-0 T No. 17 engine and stripped out trucks.

The idea of a railway in the Hejaz has been revived. The new one will link Madinah and Jeddah and on through to Makkah. As with the original Hejaz, it will ease the journeys of pilgrims and provide a high-speed link between the two holy cities. It shows you can’t keep a good idea down.