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In Syria they will do anything, but things simply don’t work, in Jordan everything works, but they won’t do much.”

Text and images by Ian Lawrence - All rights reserved.

Prelude

This was my second tour to the Hedjaz railway (2007), as I’d been once before in 2004. The 1050mm gauge railway was opened in 1908 and ran from Damascus via Amman to Medina, all part of the then Ottoman empire. The Ottomans started building the line themselves, but ran into a lot of problems, so in the end they hired the German engineer Heinrich August Meißner who supervised the work. They planned to construct the line right to the holy city of Mecca, but this section was never built. There were branch lines to Haifa (Yarmuk gorge), Bosra and Beirut. The First World War saw the line destroyed in many places by Lawrence of Arabia (no relative). The disintegration of the Ottoman Empire saw the line split up across the various European mandates. The Second World War led to the creation of Syria, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, with only Syria and Jordan still running trains on a regular basis over the remaining sections. The tracks in Israel and Lebanon were lifted long ago. In Saudi Arabia there are still remnants of the line in the desert in the form of deserted stations and abandoned rolling-stock, even engines lay where they were bombed off the tracks in WW I by my namesake. Syria and Jordan use diesel engines for their regular services, but in Syria the unreliability of their Romanian built diesels often leads to steam engines being substituted. This doesn't happen in Jordan as their American diesels are very reliable. The Syrian steam engines were all built pre WW I. The Jordanian stock is younger, being built just after WW II.

The tour operator I booked with in 2004 was convinced there were only suitable hotels in Damascus, meaning long bus rides each day to and from the hotel, also meaning virtually no low light shots and we often found ourselves shooting in the hard midday light.

This time I took no risks and booked with FarRail Tours, in fact it was my 10th tour with them. The tour guide is a really experienced photographer who puts getting the shots above all other things. Sunsets and sunrises aren’t there to be wasted, sat on a bus or having breakfast. They are to be enjoyed along the railway line. Early morning light is there to be used. Large amounts of backhanders were required to have the trains ready at the requested time, and things actually worked out on many days.

The downside of using local hotels, even if they were perfectly comfortable (most of us have slept in pretty grim accommodation to be in position for the next mornings shots) is that a large section of the group soon developed the Syrian version of Delhi belly, in various degrees of seriousness. It put some people out of action for a day.

Security

Telling people where I have been almost always leads to questions about safety. It seems most people believe everything Bush says about villain states and all they see on CNN and other 24hour news broadcasters. The fact is that Syria is not an Islamic state, and there are large minorities with other religions. You’ll see people of all religions mixing in the street without apparent problems. No security staff was provided on our train in Syria and I never felt they were necessary, as all the people we met along the line were extremely friendly.

On the other hand in Jordan, where the government is a big friend of the USA, we were accompanied by armed security guards. Jordan feels more like an Islamic state (its laws are based on Islamic laws). As a large proportion of the population is Palestinian, the authorities fear for our concern was maybe not all that imaginary. It’s certainly a fact that the railway in Amman passes though a lot of sprawling poor suburbs where normal tourists would never venture.

So what has changed since 2004

The last regular freight and passenger service between Amman and Damascus ran in May this year, the last service was said to have run steam hauled on the Syrian side of the border due to lack of serviceable diesel engines. Most of the diesel engines have been sent back to Romania for overhaul. It’s not clear where they will run upon return, as the regular customers of the international freight train will have changed to road haulage and aren’t likely to return.

Last time the main station in the centre of Damascus was closed as they had started an ambitious programme to build a tunnel which would carry the standard gauge trains from Turkey and Iran right into the town centre. There was no apparent progress as there had been problems with the contractor and they were finalizing a new contract with a new contractor who would finish the work. This building work meant the branch line into the Lebanon mountains was severed from the main workshop. Three steam engines and a rake of coaches had been moved there to run summer specials for locals. In 2004 landslides had reduced the line to the section from Hame to Deir Kanun. 2007 saw further landslides cut the line back even further to Ain Fije (so only a 10km stretch remains). It’s said that the line still operates tourist trains every Friday and Saturday.

In 2004, we visited in May and were surprised at how lush and fertile the areas we travelled though were. Everything was green and there were endless fields of grain. Visiting in October the view is more what you’d expect - dry, dusty and barren.

Previously it had struck me how much poorer Syria was when compared with Jordan. While this is still true, there is a boom in building activity and there are far more (and newer) cars on the roads now. Our local guide told us that some laws had been altered, making owning private property more attractive, thus leading to the building boom. The money seems to have come from refugees who have recently fled from the unrest in Lebanon and Iraq.

What else

In Syria the engines were generally in a poor state (visually and technically), not being able to haul the same length trains as in 2004. Back then we’d managed to get the old Mallet out on the line and it actually hauled a short train under its own steam for run pasts. Despite last minute repairs and being steamed the night before it was simply too risky to use it for our train. The staff and management seemed willing to try anything we wanted, only the technical state of the rolling stock and tracks limited what we could do.

No hardcore tour is complete without a derailment. In 2004 one of the coaches derailed between Deraa and Bosra. This time we had several problems in the Yarmuk gorge. First an overnight rock slide damaged the tracks which blocked our path and on the way back the engine derailed and took over an hour to re-rail. The track was fixed overnight and we managed to get our sought after gorge shots the next day. New road access was being built into the unspoilt valley and buildings were appearing on the top of the surrounding high areas.

In Jordan the engines looked great and were in reasonable technical condition. Even so the steep gradient out of Amman caused problems for a 4-coach train. At one point the engine lost control reversing for a photo stop. They couldn’t hold the train with the brake of the locomotive alone and the brakes of the coaches hadn’t been connected. As the train started to run away the engineer whistled for assistance and the staff in the coaches ran though the train, quickly tightening the hand brakes in the coaches and regained control before we even started thinking about abandoning the train.

We also managed to travel from Amman into the desert as far as Qatrana something which hadn’t succeeded the last time due to a sand storm. Once out in the desert the railway management refused further photo stops as the allocated time was deemed to have been used up. Further photo stops would cost 560 Euro (at first they asked for 680 Dinar = 695 Euro s) per stop. The railway staff managed to arrange further photo stops free of charge as the train frequently experienced “technical problems”, and once they were solved the passengers all seemed to be a few hundred metres down the track, so the train had to be brought forward to collect us, enabling the usual shots to be taken…. At the end of the day we drove into the desert by bus and by some strange coincidence the train just happened to pass us during sunset…

On the final day, the management wanted 100 Euro to put an engine on the timetable. As we refused, it led to us being expelled from the depot early...

Photographic experiences

Shooting in the workshops

The main part of the workshops at Damascus Kadem had the antique belt driven machinery deserted - although the machinery was still in place. The section with slightly more modern equipment, but still belt driven, which seemed to be still in use was securely locked up. In 2004 I got all the standard shots, but I was still rather inexperienced in the art of alternative railway photography. I made up for it this time, taking a tripod for shots in the workshops in Damascus, now knowing how to take full advantage of the possibilities there. I came away with all sorts of shots of the antique machinery, and inside of the building, all from the opening period of the railway. You could easily spend a full day there. When we left someone had discovered that the guard had a kalashnikov in the corner, (it seems everyone in the middle east has one under their pillow), so he was persuaded to pose in front of a picture of the president, which can be found everywhere. More kalashnikovs were found and it seemed everyone wanted to pose with the guards holding a rifle.

Night shoot in Damascus

A night shoot is something I think is typical for railway photography. Actually everyone is thinking of old authentic depot shots which are illuminated by the normal fixed lighting and the lights of the engines. Train spotters try to recreate this feel by setting up an engine and illuminating it with high powered building lamps and car headlights, then exposing and reproducing the shots as if it was daylight. It would be an understatement to say I’m not a big fan of these shoots. Shooting from the pre set-up position never ever creates shots with any atmosphere. I do hang around though as I’ve found you can often get something interesting, shooting before the lamps are set up of after they’ve been removed, by shooting against the lights on the wrong side of the engine, or from behind getting a glint type of shot. But here there really was no shot.... Then I discovered a small child sitting out of the way, but with only just enough light on him. Problem, I’d left my flash in the hotel. Big mistake. I had to use a time exposure of up to 2 seconds at f2.8 and had to include the moving child and various moving members of staff. I must have shot 20 frames. Only one was more or less reasonable, but can by no means be called sharp. With my flash it could have been..... oh well.

Night shoot in Der’a

Similar set-up to the Damascus shoot, but here there were three engines in steam being moved around and plenty of opportunities outside of the pre set-up and specially illuminated location. A highlight must have been when there were flash overs from the oil burners under one of the engines.

Chasing the sunset

The sun was getting low, and the tour leader was looking out for a suitable location to get sunset shots. The train stopped on a clear embankment, but there was still a bit of life in the sun, so the main group headed off for yet another 'sun in the back' standard shot. I (and two or three other guys) headed off in the opposite direction. We thought the sun to be too weak to waste our time on the sunny side of the track. Besides it always take a few run pasts to judge the best position for the silhouette. So we could use the first run past for a fake silhouette and then move to the best position before the mad crowd would get there, if they ever got there. A fake silhouette is when the sun is still a bit too high to position behind the train, so you shoot with the sun just out of the frame and expose for the sky. After some post processing you can get some pretty nice results. We soon noticed that we needed to get some distance between us and the embankment for the “real” shot, but didn’t need any height. There was also a minaret a bit further up the track. So we headed towards the hills and then “hit the deck” using long lenses to enlarge the sun. Then as the sun set we grobbled up the rocks powered by an adrenaline rush to extend our shooting time, all hoping the train would actually be in the right position at the right time. Those who had got to the right position fast enough managed some pretty good shots of minaret, sun and smoky steam engine. Now how do we get back down those rocks, in fact how did we get up this high anyway?

Most of the guys from the sunny side didn’t turn up in time.

Candids

I also managed a lot of my now typical candids of railway staff at work which I take with a long lens ensuring I’m not in the way of the standard-shot guys and likewise am not too conspicuous to the staff either, causing them to change their behaviour. The trick is to stand around and try to be non conspicuous hiding the camera with the long lens behind your back. You need to be on the lookout for interesting scenes. Maintenance to the engines, staff talking, people getting on and off engines. All the scenes you’ve seen many times before but have rarely manage to capture. When it’s time, the camera comes up and a burst of shots is taken. If you're lucky, they won’t even have seen you taking them, giving you a second chance. Of course you need to be aware if they will object to being photographed. On a tour the staff will be prepared for that, in other situations asking the first time and getting a posed throw away shot is the best way to start. Just to ensure they won’t give chase, wielding shovels or even axes.

Equipment tips

Shooting in the desert

I was a bit fearful shooting in the desert. The sought after shot was a small train in a big desert scene. I shot it like I’d shoot any other picture, checking the histogram. No correction was required, but the histogram did show that there was very little contrast. It’s what you’d expect for a small black train in a big yellow sun flooded desert. In fact the pictures turned out fine without any special post processing required.

I used two bodies continuously throughout the tour one pared with my 70-200 and the other with a 28-75 and only had to change lenses when I needed my wide angle. I think I only used it once. So dust wasn’t a problem. As I hardly ever shoot at more than f8, even clear blue skies don’t show the resident dust on the sensor. f9.5 does and those shots need cleaning up.

Vital equipment 1: a Lowepro harness

A few tours ago I replaced the strap on my camera bag with a Lowepro strap, which enables the bag to be used as backpack or shouldbag, by simply unfastening one clip. It’s proved to be extremely useful. When climbing around on rough terrain it’s a lot easier to carry a backpack than a shoulder bag. On location a shoulder bag is easier for quick access to whatever you may need. It combines the best of two worlds. The strap is actually made for a specific series of Lowepro bags, but it can easily be made to suit any shoulder bag as long as the original strap is removable. I use it on an old battered Tamrac. The only complaint I have about it is that the straps are made from a very slippery material and after each days use, have to be readjusted as they slip though the clips.

Vital equipment 2: workingmans gloves

This is probably the first tour I’ve actually remembered to put a pair in my suitcase. Ideal for climbing up rocks and specially for coming down on all fours. We aren’t strolling up and down mountain pastures in our clean and sterile west. It’s easy to cut yourself on the rocks and the plants that do grow, having only survived the sheep and goats by being the type that you don’t want to touch. The sheep have left presents behind almost everywhere and the combination of cuts and sheepdroppings isn’t something us westerners can cope with.

Digital versus film

A far greater portion of railway photographers still use film than in any other field of photography. This is mainly due to the fact that they shoot colour transparencies and project them on a screen. High end beamers are just starting to become available for reasonable prices which can compete with the image quality of a projected slide.

On comparing my shots I noticed that digital manages the high contrast between light coloured desert and dark steam trains a lot better than my scanned negative film did back in 2004, but maybe it was just the weather we had back then, with strong winds and a lot of dust in the air.

A travel companion using high end Velvia 50 on this tour produced almost identical images using a high end scanner, and I wouldn’t want to say which is superior. Except when it starts getting dark and I simply crank up the asa...

About the Author

Ian Lawrence lives in the Netherlands and works as a civil engineer (piping and pipelining). He spends his spare time photographing trains in their surroundings, always looking for the perfect shot in the best light. As the Netherlands doesn’t have many locations where he can get the type of shots he likes, he travels abroad whenever he can.

More of his work can be seen on his homepage at www.railway-photography.net 

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