Lawrence of the Railway
Sir: James Buchan ('Well educated heads in the sand. . .', 30 March) was being naive in expecting the people of Yanbu to remember T. E. Lawrence. Lawrence did pass through the town with a Hashemite army, but it is 70 years since the Hashe- mites ruled there. Lawrence's attacks on the Hejaz railway were carried out 400 miles to the north with mainly Bedouin raiding parties. Why should the people of Yanbu know anything of that?
In 1948 I rode the Hejaz railway from Amman. A friend of mine was then Chief Engineer of the Arab Legion; his duties included managing what remained of that railway. On a tour of inspection he found a station where the water tanks rested on the
LETTERS
ground instead of being supported on the more usual tower. The tower had been blown up. 'Who has done this dreadful thing', my friend asked, 'the Yehud?' Transjordan was then at war with the newly formed state of Israel. The railway- men rocked with laughter. 'Oh no', they answered, 'it was Al 'Aurans.'
The memory of Lawrence lived, but it was along the Hejaz railway where he had been most active.
Angus Dalgleish
Shouson Hill, Ruxbury Road, Chertsey, Surrey
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