Syria 26.9.2008: The ticket office at Damascus, Kanawat terminus, together with the customary picture of Syria's current President. The ticket offices are labelled (left and right): "Billets I et II Classes" and "Billets III et IV Classes". The left hand office is actually still selling tickets, but for the bus service that replaced trains between Kanawat and Cadem. Prior to that it was from these same windows that the many thousands of Haj Pilgrims bought their tickets for their Holy journey to Medina, in what is today, Saudi Arabia. When the Hedjaz Railway first opened, the  3-times weekly, 1,320km (825 mile), train journey took over 56 hours. However, this was a huge improvement upon the average 60 days previously taken by camel-train!
Roger Griffiths; roger.griffiths@hotmail.com