Photo, Helladjian]
A HEAVY STEEL BRIDGE IN COURSE OF ERECTION BETWEEN HAIFA AND DERAA, THE BRANCH FROM THE MAIN SACRED LINE TO THE SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA
It was felt, however, although Damascus should be the nominal northern terminus, that it would be more advantageous from all points of view to connect the railway with the Mediterranean Sea, so as to secure an independent outlet, and one more convenient for the handling of the constructional material than Beirut. The port selected for this purpose was Haifa, on the Bay of Acre. This sea branch runs inland broadly at right angles with the main line for a distance of about 100 miles, the junction being at Deraa. In building this section, however, many abstruse problems had to be unravelled, especially in the desolate valley of the Yarmuk. Here the line runs along narrow ledges cut in the mountain-side, plunges through massive shoulders, compasses precipitous bluffs, winds from one side of the gorge to the other, and crosses deep chasms by means of heavy masonry and metal bridges. In this stretch the River Jordan is crossed by a noble stone bridge of five arches—the only railway bridge across this sacred river—some distance below its flow from the Sea of Galilee.
Photo, Helladjian]
THE ENGINEERING WONDER OF THE HEDJAZ RAILWAY—THE SUDDEN DESCENT INTO “THE DEVIL’S BELLY”
The substantial character of this railway is a feature that most impresses the visitor. The bridges and viaducts are permanent structures wrought in stone or steel. Ample supplies of the former material were found in the mountain-sides. The steel structures are of massive and lofty proportions, and for the most part are supported upon heavy masonry piers carried deeply down into the beds of the rivers, so that the possibility of the foundations being undermined by the scouring action of the swiftly-rushing waters is eliminated.
In traversing Palestine, the railway follows practically a straight line from Deraa to Ma’an, some 250 miles to the south, and runs roughly parallel with the River Jordan, which is some miles to the west, while on the east stretches the vast Stoney Plain to the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates. Taken on the whole, these 250 miles were completed very rapidly, as there were no adverse physical difficulties to be overcome.
It was after leaving Ma’an to penetrate the wild and but little-known Hedjaz Peninsula that the engineer’s bitterest struggle for mastery over Nature began. It was as if the mythical Genii of the Lamp, resenting the unlocking of the door to their kingdom, combined in their efforts to baffle the railway engineer. Owing to the rugged character of the country the changes in level are frequent and heavy, varying from 200 or 300 feet below, to nearly 4000 feet above, the level of the Red Sea. There are few main lines in any part of the world that rise and fall so extensively and continuously.
Fortunately, in forcing the band of steel through this wild country, the engineer was able to proceed where he liked. It is simply a vast, silent waste of sand, with the rocks and mountains jutting their heads to the sky as the island eyries of the sea fowl rise from the sea. A deviation of a few hundred feet to the east or west of the air-line to avoid a saucer-like depression, with its heavy gradients, was quite immaterial. Yet even with these advantages it was not possible always to avoid sharp curves and counter-curves, heavy embankments, or the blasting of deep cuttings through large clumps of rocks.