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"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, we went to the station ofKiryat Motzkin, where
we put coins and nails on the 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-OS and
LMS gF 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 enthusaist 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 afternoon train to Akko remained in
service in its original formation - and with steam locos until
1957.
HARAKEVET
51 P. 26
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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 Led, 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 oforder, in 1952, a Baldwin tank pulled the whole
train towards Haifa East. Many people gathered at Palmer'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 J 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 I travelled by train in Israel for the first time - to
Kiryat Motzkin. I 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-PRstock 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 SAFE
No. 1.
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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 oflocos could be
seen. We said goodbye to the diesel locomotive and the train
continued from here with two Baldwins doubleheading. This was
done for two reasons - firstly there were still only three
diesels on the system, and also extra coaches from
Tel Aviv South had been coupled onto the train. It 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 e arrived at
Jerusaalem 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 on the line to Beer-Sheba.
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 G12.)
A train arrived from Beer-Sheba headed by the later-famous sF 70414. It
uncoupled, we moved on, then reversed and coupled onto the 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.
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Other
Memories:
1). - Around 1955 sF's were
used to haul cement trains from Nesher.
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2).
- The P-Class 4-6-0's were used on the Tel Aviv - Haifa line until 1954,
occasionally also in 1956. In 1956
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