Section of a rail from Hijaz Railway with commemorative inscription
Amman, Jordan
Numismatic Museum (Ahli Bank)
About Numismatic Museum (Ahli Bank), Amman
1907
NA
Cast steel
1st rail: length 57.5 cm, height 11cm, width 9cm; 2nd rail: length 24.5 cm, height 1cm, width 9cm
Germany
In September 1900, Sultan Abdul Hamid addressed a call for all Muslims all over the world to collect donations to establish a railway between Damascus and the holy places to facilitate transporting the pilgrims. The call was responded to enthusiastically and with the great support of all Muslims. The cost of the project was estimated at approximately five million Ottoman golden lira which were provided from: donations, the revenues of the Ottoman State earned from the sale of the stamps, and a special tax upon all the citizens for the railway. Construction of the narrow-gauge track (105cm) whose axle weight was (10.5 tonnes) began in 1900 with a wire telegraph line along its side connecting Damascus with Medina across Amman with a total track length of 1303km. The construction of the project ended in 1908. All the tracks and the stations were completed as detailed below: Mezerib Dera'a section, September 1901; Dera'a Al-Zarqa section, September 1902; Al-Zarqa Amman section, September 1903; Amman Ma'an section, September 1904; Ma'an Tabuk section, end of 1906; Tabuk Medain Saleh, September 1907; Medain Saleh Medina, September 1908. These rails were brought from the destroyed railroad tracks that were harmed by Arab revolt army attacks in 1917. On one side of the first rail is an Arabic phrase written in divan script: "min khayrat mawlana Amir al-mu'minin al-sultan al-ghazi 'abdal-hamid khan thani 'azza nasruhu".
Aida Naghawi "Section of a rail from Hijaz Railway with commemorative inscription" in "Sharing History", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://sharinghistory.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;AWE;jo;69;en;N
Prepared by: Aida Naghawi
Copyedited by: Daniel de la VegaDaniel de la Vega
Daniel de la Vega is a copy editor based in Portland, Oregon. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in linguistics from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2014 and has since done editing and localization work on everything from college applications to magazines to video game dialogue.
MWNF Working Number: JO 069
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