AN OTTOMAN TRAIN COUPLING FROM A TRAIN OF THE HIJAZ RAILWAYS, 1908-1920

An Ottoman iron train coupling, linking two train wagons, of rectangular shape and stamped with word 'Hijaz'.
30 cm. by 13.5 cm.

CATALOGUE NOTE
On Sept. 1, 1900, on the orders of Sultan Abdulhamid II, the Ottoman authorities started working on a 1,300 km railway project, that ran from Damascus to Medina, through the Hejaz region of modern day Saudi Arabia, with a branch line to Haifa on the Mediterranean Sea. It was a part of the Ottoman railway network and the original goal was to extend the line from the Haydarpaşa Terminal in Kadikoy, Istanbul beyond Damascus to the holy city of Mecca. However, construction was interrupted due to the outbreak of World War I, and it reached up to Medina, 400 km short of Mecca. The completed Damascus to Medina section was 1,300 km. Another important reason was to improve the economic and political integration of the distant Arabian provinces into the Ottoman state, and to facilitate the transportation of military forces.