Ras el Ein Train Station

The history of the railroad in Palestine has been chronicled in several books, such as Paul Cotterell's The Railways of Palestine and Israel and a chapter in Gad Gilbar's Ottoman Palestine, 1800-1914. Proposals for railroad development date back to the 1830s, but the first line was only completed in 1892 - the French-built Jaffa-Jerusalem line.

The Ottomans, who controlled Palestine until the middle of World War I, do not seem to have made a priority of the Palestine Railway, but during the war some lines were extended for strategic purposes. The man behind these railways was a German, Heinrich August Meissner (1862-1940). Among the many kilometers of track for which he is responsible, I am mostly convinced that he built the first railroad line by Ras el Ain, a narrow-gauge line, roughly around 1915. Shortly thereafter, the British captured this territory, and the Egyptian Expeditionary Force began switching the track to Standard Gauge. They seem to have reached Ras el Ain at some point in 1918. The British renamed the system the Palestine Railways, which remained its name until 1948, when Israel was founded and renamed it the Israel Railways.

Map from Gad Gilbar's Book

The Ras el Ain station originally existed on a line between Lod and Tulkarem, with stops at Kfar Yunnis and Qalqiliyah on either side. The modern Rosh Ha'ayin station, which is north of the original one, is located on the Hod Hasharon-Rishon Letzion line.

Migdal Zedek Quarry, 1936

1921 Map. Red Lines may indicate RR lines

1925 Map by Abraham Brauer. Ras el Ain shown with Station

1929 Map of Majdal Yaba. Station clearly shown

Map of Ottoman Railroads

It is unclear if there was originally a train station at Ras el Ein. It seems that there has been a station at Ras el Ein since the track was originally laid, in 1915. At first I thought that it was likely that originally there was no stop at that location, and that the British only later added a stop when they built the pumping station in the 1930s. However, the 1929 map of Majdal Yaba certainly shows a stop, as does the 1925 map. The 1921 map, whose red lines I think denote the railroad, does not underline Antipatris, but since there is no key it is hard to take this as concrete proof that there was no stop. There is a spur that runs west from the Ras el Ain station toward Petach Tikva, so I then thought that the Ras el Ain station was originally built to allow trains to run off the main line to Petach Tikva. But in letters regarding the construction of the Petach Tikva line in 1920 the Ras el Ein station was said to already exist. Presumably, the station was built in 1915 for the Ottoman  war effort, as Ottoman troops were stationed in the fortress at Antipatris. The station influenced the location of the army base, built first in 1937. We also know that the quarries used the Ras el Ein station to transport their stone. As such, the train station is a crucial part of the history of Rosh Ha'ayin.

Today a new station has been built to the north of Rosh Ha'ayin. The old station still stands and looks fairly modern, but it is no longer in use. It is beginning to show some wear, such as broken windows and graffiti. When we visited, an alarm was going off. 

Ras el Ein Station. (David Ra'if, from Hagana Archive)

Ras el Ein Station. (David Ra'if, from Hagana Archive)

Modern Day Rosh Ha'ayin South Station, No Longer in Use

British Military Huts and Sheds

Modern Rosh Ha'ayin is built on the site of the British RAF Ras el Ain military base. A number of distinctive-looking sheds still grace the city. Some are still in use for a variety of purposes, others are abandoned and some are ruined.

Starting with World War I, the British began using a variety of quickly-deployed military sheds. Chief among these were the Romney Hut and Nissen Hut. The US army adopted a similar style in their Quonset Huts. These structures made use of corrugated metal to form the hull of the building. The structures were poorly insulated, but provided quick shelter. Other designs developed for the home front, such as the Anderson Shelter (for a bomb shelter).

The aesthetic of the Rosh Ha'ayin buildings is similar to the other huts. However, the design is slightly more sophisticated. The metal only forms the roof, while the support walls are made of brick. Ridges at the top provide a small amount of lighting if properly oriented. I consulted with Paul Francis, author of British Military Airfield Architecture, but he did not recognize the form of the Rosh Ha'ayin buildings. It could be that they were the work of a local designer/architect and were only adopted here.

Uses for Archaeological Sites II

Previously we mentioned that one suggested use for Tel Aphek was a gas depot. During World War I, there were some other interesting military uses for the site. Eye witness Antony Bluett describes one use in With Our Army in Palestine:

Ras el Ain, which had been a part of our front line, presented an extraordinary spectacle, for most of the prisoners passed through here on their way south to Wilhelma and beyond. For thirty-six hours there was hardy a break in the procession shambling towards the great hill on which stand the ruins of Herod's Castle, where Salome danced for the head of John the Baptist, and where now the prisoners were caged. There was a marked difference between the condition of the Turkish prisoners and that of the Germans: the former were ragged, half-starved, and yellow with privation and fatigue, but all the Germans I saw were sleek, well-clad, and bearing every sign of good living. It was impossible to cage them together, for they fought like cats with each other on every possible occasion, and caused endless trouble to the guards, who had to go amongst them with the bayonet in order to separate them. (p. 194)

Another source, from the British National Archives, shows a petition from British medical officers interned at Ras el Ain, protesting conditions in the camp. (FO 383/228)

While the Ottomans apparently used the site as a jail, the British chose to let them soldiers camp within the fortress. I have to confirm it, but I think the British captured the site on March 12, 1918. In the British Medical Journal from Dec 20, 1919, Dr. F.D. Nicholson writes an article titled "Tick Fever in Palestine."

"On March 20th, 1918, eight men of the - Suffolks were admitted to hospital suffering from relapsing fever; as it was very unusual to get so many patients from one source at a time, inquiries were made, and it was found that they all belonged to one company of about 250 men, stationed for several days at Ras-el-Ain Castle (mentioned in Acts xxiii, 32 as Antipatris), which was then one of our advanced posts." 

 The men claimed to have been bitten by ticks. They had been fumigated on March 10, 1918, but

"went to Ras-el-Ain Castle on March 12th, where they remained four days and three nights...Four of the patients had shared the same bivouac, the pegs of which were fastened to the outer wall of the castle; a ditch or drain ran under the wall and traversed the foor of the tent. One man occupied the tent next door, and the remaining three slept in an outhouse within the castle walls." 

 After the problem was identified, the tents were moved 30 yards away from the wall and the problems ceased, "though troops continuously occupied this spot for the next five months."