Railways of the Middle East
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The ‘British’ period in the Middle East began with Lawrence of Arabia's attacks on the Hedjaz Railway in the First World War and the eventual defeat of the Ottoman Empire. It ended with the creation of the state of Israel after the stormy British mandate in Palestine. New international routes were established into Egypt and western Lebanon. There was also a powerful British influence on the railways of Iraq, Egypt and Sudan.
This book is divided into chronological periods: pre-1918, the interwar years, and 1939 to the present day. All manner of British-built locomotives and rolling stock, whether purpose-built or hastily requisitioned in wartime, saw service all over this fascinating region, and this book attempts to show that variety.
Colin Alexander has been a railway enthusiast for more than thirty years and volunteered on preserved Deltic locomotives. He was born in Northumberland, and has a life-long passion for local and transport history, sparked by his mother’s copy of The King’s England – Northumberland. Appreciative of the county’s unique place geographically and historically, he has explored most of its once-inhabited hilltops and its mediaeval castles, and walked the length of its greatest defensive monument – Hadrian’s Wall. He lives in Whitley Bay. Alon is a transport history author specialising in railways.