British soldiers travelling by troop train on the desert railway, Sheik Nakhrur, 1917

Photograph, World War One Middle East (1914-1918), 1917.

Construction on the desert railway began in February 1916. It eventually spanned hundreds of miles across the Sinai peninsula, providing troops and supplies to the front line.

From a collection of photographs taken by Corporal Joseph Egerton, Shropshire Yeomanry in Sinai and Palestine.