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

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

The engine was manufactured by Nasmyth Wilson and Co, Patricroft, Manchester. 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.