A British soldier leaning against a railway engine on the desert railway, 1917 (c)

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

Construction began on the desert railway 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.