EARLY ISRAEL RAILWAYS MEMORIES:

Aharon Gazit of Modi'in has prepared some memoirs of his childhood:

"Although I remember the day when we arrived in Israel, one day in July 1949, my first memories are a little bit later, when we lived in Kiryat-Shmuel and where, with an older friend, wc went to the station of Kiryat Motzkin, where we put coins and nails  חסthe rails, and so got them flattened into new shapes. In those years, the IDF used every British-built siding to their camps, and the one at Kiryat Motzkin was no exception - so I had the opportunity to become acquainted for the first time with the various types of locos, mainly Baldwin 4-6-0S and LMS 8F 2-8-0's.

But the real change for me occurred in 1951, when we moved to Haifa. There, for a reason which will never be clear to me, my father used to take me to Haifa Central in the afternoon, and there I could watch every day the afternoon train to Kiryat Motzkin and Akko. As far as I can remember, it was around 16.00. A Baldwin led the train, consisting mainly of the oldest rolling stock, generally three coaches. It entered the station, stopped, and whilst passengers were boarding it, the locomotive left the train, went forward then backwards and back, coupled on again, this time with the tender leading. For some reason the loco always stood with its chimney under the footbridge, so it remained black for years ! The signalmen had pity on my father, so they gave him a chair, which enabled me to see the whole station from above. This chair remained there for years - maybe waiting for the father of an enthusiast of the next generation. Sometimes I was lucky enough also to see freight trains headed by an 8F. This happened mainly in summer. Because there were few passenger trains running in the beginning of the 1950's, freight trains could be despatched as early as 17.00, but sometimes also at midday. As far as I remember, the aftemoon train to Akko remained in service in its original formation - and with steam locos -until 1957.

An interesting fact is that, although the distance between Haifa Central and Akko (about 23 km.) isn't much longer than that between Tel Aviv South and Lod, the Baldwin tank locos were never used as they were between Tel Aviv and Lod - with very similar loads. I remember that one day when a Baldwin loco was out of order, in 1952, a Baldwin tank pulled the whole train towards Haifa East. Many people gathered at Palmor's Gate to see the "big wonder"!

A cynical use of the train occurred during the seamen' s strike, which Almogi (a leader of the Haifa workers and chief of the "Hapoel Executors") decided to break in an original way. Their house is just on the track crossing the gate near Custom 's House, so when they gathered there, an 8F was moving backwards and forwards, whistling and puffing, thus making it impossible to hear each other! When I saw it, I could not imagine what was really happening, but more than forty years later I saw a programme on Channel 1, in which a documentary report of Geva Herzliyya was shown with this locomotive - and then I understood!

In 1952 1 travelled by train in Israel for the first time - to Kiryat Motzkin. 1 clearly remember the two saloon coaches 97 & 98 standing for years at Haifa East batteries depot. An interesting fact is that these coaches (the rebuilt Sentinel railcars?) were never repainted in light grey but in light white, with a red strip under the windows, until 1961 when all ex-PR stock was repainted in dark blue to match the newer stock. From that journey I also remember the ex-Hedjaz rolling stock and locos still active at Haifa East, as well as rusting old locos. The next experience belongs to August 1954. It was a journey to Jerusalem which left memories that are still fresh today! Firstly, because it was a long journey for a 7-year-old - about 4 hours. The loco was new -SAFB No. 101, about two years old. On the way, at Hadera East, we received reinforcement in the shape of a Second World War US boxcar converted to carry soldiers, and an escort of soldiers and border guards. At that time, incidents at sensitive points like Tul-Keram, Kalkilya and Bittir happened daily, and Israel Railways wanted to take no risks. The interesting part started at Lod which was full of steam activity, and where most types of locos could be seen. We said goodbye to the diesel locomotive and the train continued from here with two Baldwins double heading. This was done for two reasons - firstly there were still only three diesels on thc system, and also extra coaches from Tel Aviv South had been coupled onto the train. lt should be noted that the mountainous line to Jerusalem was much less green at this time, since most of the forests along the route were still very young at the time. We took water at Beit-Shemesh (still called Hartuv at the time) and when we arrived at Jerusalem it seemed to be like a holiday to the people living beside the track- we even received applause!

One of the converted Baldwin tank engines was usually to be seen at Jerusalem, busy shunting. On the way back we had - maybe surprisingly - a diesel, No. 103. Before entering Na'an junction we stood for a while, and saw the works being carried out חסthe line to Beer­Sheba. On another journey in 1956, when the Negev line was already open, we also stopped at Na'an. (On that occasion we were headed both ways by a G 12.) A train arrived from Beer­Sheba headed by the later-famous 8F 70414. It uncoupled, we moved חס then reversed and coupled onto the coaches from Beer-Sheba, continued to Lod and there these Beer-Sheba coaches were uncoupled again, continuing to Tel Aviv South, whilst we continued on our way to Haifa.

Other Memories:

1 ). - Around 1955 8F's were used to haul cement trains from Nesher.

2). - The P-Class 4-6-0's were used on the Tel Aviv - Haifa line until 1954, occasionally also in 1956. In 1956 when the Independence Day parade was held in Haifa a Baldwin was used for a Tel Aviv-bound train.

3).  - In 1955 1 saw an 8F with a freight train at Binyamina station.

4).  - In the same year, some of the trains went from Haifa to Jerusalem through Tel Aviv Tzafon (later B'nei Beraq), where Baldwins were used both for shunting and for working freight trains.

5).  - Also in 1955, when the first Orenstein & Koppel coaches arrived, they were introduced to the public coupled to ex-PR coaches and headed by a P-Class loco.

6).  -In the l 950's Israel Railways introduced a door-to-door service, combining train and truck for parcels distribution. lt was called 'Israel Express'. The base was at what became later - and what was until recently - the Railway Museum main building, which at the time was a store. The trucks used were of old Bedford types and a small GMC ofWW2 vintage. An example of the latter type was used once as a small bus, and can be seen at the Egged Museum at Holon.

7).  - In 1960 an interesting initiative to promote rail travel was made by the owner of a ticket selling agency Grünberger, at the time and for some years in Shapira St. He succeeded in putting together combined organised tours from Haifa to Jerusalem. lt included a special Egged bus to Haifa Central, reserved seats חס the train, and a special Hamekasher bus to see the city and eat lunch, and then back to Haifa. lt didn't last long, because Egged saw it as a threat to "Egged Tours". However, his idea is worth mentioning. I recently contacted his grandson, Mr. Kupferstein, who was my friend at school and is today a senior engineer at Zim Hamburg. He said that after his grandfather's death nothing was left, although he did remember this initiative. Apparently an article on it appeared in "HaTzofeh" newspaper.

8).  - During the l 950's, because official "reserved seats" had been introduced on the Esslingen railcars and O&K coaches, some of the wooden compartment ex-PR coaches also received small plates above the seats with their numbers and became "Reserved". This arrangement only applied to the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv route, and lasted until about 1962.

9). - Another note about reserved seats - later, such seats were available on Haifa - Tel Aviv services, and these were always in the coach at the northern end. Since the British built at Haifa Central a multi-purpose building that incorporated not only the signal box and a pedestrian footbridge but also the toilets, and since the trains always stopped with the end coach opposite this facility, it used to be joked that the ticket was not only for the seat but for the smell !

10). - Among the coaches in service on this line were the two ex-ESR ones captured in 1956 during the Sinai Campaign. In 1961 they were painted in dark blue livery, as were all the remaining ex-PR cars. One of them ended its life near Hof HaCarmel station as a bogie-less body, together with another steel-bodied ex-PR coach.

11 ). - In October 1961, about four months after the Carel Fouche coaches were placed in service, I travelled from Tel Aviv to Haifa on the 17 .07 train, which consisted mainly of the new French stock with one O&K coach. But the real exception was a former Ambulance (ex-Midland) coach converted to a buffet car. The train was stopped at Beit Yehoshua because a fire broke out in one of the axle boxes of this buffet car. It was uncoupled, and it was withdrawn shortly after.

12). - Finally - I have been attempting to trace, with no success, the former line from Kafr Jinis to Tel Litwinsky. In my efforts I did discover a garage, located behind Shipudeh Hatikva and Sadiya Chatuka streets. It is the former station of Yahudia (Yahud); the current owners are Yitzhak Mayish and Meir Lander. They were among the first to arrive here in 1948 and told me that the line was used for a while to bring wounded soldiers from Latrun (probably through Ramie and Lod). At exactly this point they were then transferred by ambulance to Tel Hashomer, because a viaduct and bridge near the Avia Hotel was blown up during the war. According to their descriptions, Baldwin locos were used. On the column behind them in this photo was the station name board until 1960 ! They then removed it. The rails were still visible until 1960, and one piece of rail is still used as a support in the garage structure.