Syria 28.9.2008: 2-8-2 No.262 (Hartmann 4031/1918) stands beside Cadem engine shed with the tour party’s train, waiting to depart for Dera’a. Note that the loco's two large headlamps have been superseded by a modern quartz-iodine spotlamp, wired in somewhat cavalier fashion to a petrol-driven generator precariously mounted on the right-hand running plate!.Inside the shed was 0-6-2T No.031-805, formerly Class B 0-6-2T Rack locomotive No.5 (SLM 845/1894), used on the Beirut-Rayak, Abt Rack section of the one-time DHP’s Beirut to Damascus line. The locomotive was shorn of its rack equipment in 1944 and afterwards used in conventional service. Although in reasonable external condition, it would require a major overhaul to restore it to working order.
Roger Griffiths; roger.griffiths@hotmail.com