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Home / 2017 / Jordan - May 2017 / Jordan - Day 1 16

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Day 1 of the trip saw us visit a plinthed steam locomotive before heading to the main railway station in Amman. Here we had a look around the buildings, the depot and a museum. At the depot there was feverish activity to try to get the promised steam locomotive into working order. This was No. 23, a 2-8-2 built in 1951 by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorn in Darlington. In the end it did work, but a diesel loco was provided to help out. This was fortunate as No.23 expired and was detached at Zarqa - though not before assisting the diesel at a couple of places where the track at level crossings had been buried under debris. This was the first train to cover the 61 km route north from Amman to Al-Mafraq for two years. Return to Amman was rather late and the second half was in the dark.