File 3142/1903 'Hedjaz Railway' [‎81r] (168/488)

■working of the railway becomes much more expensive through the importation of all
the fuel from abroad. But the further towards Medina the railway advances the more-
difficult becomes the solution of the question.
The Trans-Caspian Railway, built by the Russian General Annenkow through
the Kara-Kum Desert, would have had to contend with the same difficulties had there
not been the great petroleum springs on both sides of the Caspian Sea. The naphtha
Residuum obtained there not only provided excellent fuel for the locomotives, station
buildings and kitchens, and for the camp ovens of the workmen, but was also success*-
fully used in the lighting of the station buildings. The thought occurs that the large
petroleum and naphtha springs near Mosul might be used in a similar way for the
Hedjaz Railway. Certainly the first condition would be the continuation of the
Bagdad Railway from its present end station Bulgurlu to the petroleum region near
Mosul. As soon as this railway has been built and the short junction of this line with
the line Damascus-Aleppo has been me.de it seems to be a matter of course that
the stores of naphtha at Mosul should be employed as burning and lighting material
on the Hedjaz Railway—assuming a rational exploitation of the naphtha springs.
I
3. Drift Sands.
Along the whole line of the Hedjaz Railway as far as Mudewwere there is nc
drift sand. The only bed of it, found near this place, has been circumvented by the
railway. The ground lias rather the character of a chalk steppe than of a sand desert,
and therefore forms an excellent foundation for the railway. According to Moukhtar
Bey’s survey, however, there are several beds of drift sand beyond Mudewwere, which
endanger the solidity of the railway, and might interrupt the traffic by drifting and
choking the line.
In the building of the Trans-Caspian Railway General Annenkow has shown us
that this evil may be overcome. He increased the firmness of the railway foundation
at the spots where it was threatened by drift sand either by covering the sand bank
with a layer of clay, or by introducing horizontal layers of. wattles, or by planting sand
plants, especially wild oats or tamarisk, the roots of which bind the sand together.
At places where there w^as any special danger he protected the line from the sand bv
putting up a balustrade, covered with shingles, against which the sand bioke and
coUe there is an absolute dearth of trees and bushes both in the districts bordering
on the Hedjaz Railway and those further off, it wall be at some spots impossible to
combat the drift-sand by the same means as General Annenkow though similar
methods will be resorted to. Quite near the station Batu-ul-Ghul (520 kilom.|
there are extensive clay beds ; the neighbourhood is also rich m stones of all sizes. n
mv opinion there is no doubt that it wall be possible with this stone and clay to make the
sand banks in this region sufficiently firm, and that by budding a narrow stone dam
running parallel on the line, all danger of its getting covered hy drift sand mil be-
avoided. Only time and labour are required to overcome these difficulties ; and in the
construction of the Hedjaz line both are to be had m plenty.
4. Labour.
In Part XIII the difficulty for obtaining labour for the Hedjaz Railway is gone
into at Greater length. Although this disadvantage has been for the greater part over
come by employing Turkish troops on the line there still remains the difficulty of
o-etting the necessary contractors and workmen for the consti uction of engineering
works bridges, stations, buildings, &c. The natives have had but little experience of
this sort of work, therefore the assistance of foreigners as managers and artisans is
mdispeirsabla^r k oweverj f ear the discomforts of a stay in the desert, and the
hardships which they have to bear. Added to this, in consequence of the great distance
from Haifa to the head of the railway, provisions and building material do not always
arrive in time, and thus the normal course of the work is impeded and made more
difficult Every kilometre that the line advances into the desert adds to these difficul
ties, the communication backwards lengthens and thus increases the need for working
material and in consequence the cost. ^