Ottoman Railway Company

Ottoman Railway Company
İzmir-Alsancak station, starting point of the ORC, around 1900
Network of the former Ottoman Railway Company (state 2015)
Route length:	610 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend İzmir -Alsancak Sirinyer Buca Gaziemir Seydikoy Torbalı Çatal Edema Tire Kozpınar Selçuk Ortaklar Soke Aydin Nazilli Kuyucak Saraykoy Goncalı Denizli Çardak Dazkırı Sütlaç Çivril dinar Karakuyu Gümüşgün Bozanönü Egirdir

The Ottoman Railway Company (ORC), Turkish İzmir-Aydın Demiryolu ( İzmir-Aydın Railway ), was the oldest railway company in the Asian part of the Ottoman Empire . It was founded in 1856 and started operating on a first section in 1858. Starting from İzmir , the route network opened up the fertile hinterland of the city. The company, which was founded with British capital, became the property of the Turkish state railway Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları (TCDD) in 1935 .

history

Track construction near İzmir around 1860

Railway lines in the area of ​​today's Turkey around 1910, ORC lines in green

The aim of the ORC was to develop the fertile hinterland of what was then Smyrna. In the fertile valley of the Great Meander ( Büyük Menderes ) in particular , there was extensive agricultural production that should be better connected to the export port of Smyrna. The ORC had been promised a guaranteed interest rate of 6% by the Ottoman state. Financing difficulties meant that it took the company over four years from receiving the concession on September 22, 1856 to the groundbreaking exactly one year later to the opening of the first section between the İzmir Alsancak station and Torbalı on December 24, 1860. The ORC reached Aydın as the planned end of the route six years after the planned opening date. From 1862, the trains ran first to Kozpınar , a year later to Selçuk , until finally on July 1, 1866 the entire 140 km long route to Aydın went into operation. In 1866 and 1870 two short branch lines to Seydiköy and Buca were built in the suburbs of İzmir. Since 1865 was the the station Izmir Basmane starting range of Smyrne Cassaba & Prolongements (SCR) from Izmir to Turgutlu (then Cassaba ) a second railway company in Izmir, whose route OCR tracks just behind the railhead at the same level Alsancak crossed.

The further expansion of the route network was not continued until 1880. In 1882 the main line from Aydın was extended by around 101 km to Sarayköy . A year later, a nearly 48 km long branch line went into operation in the valley of the Little Meander ( Küçük Menderes ) from Torbalı to Tire . In 1884, this branch line was given a branch line to Ödemiş in Çatal . Five years later, in 1889, the main line was extended by 145 km from Sarayköy to Dinar, including two short branch lines to Denizli (9 km) and Çivril (30 km). In 1890 another branch line of the main line followed, the 22 km long connection from Ortaklar to Söke .

A longer break was followed by a final extension of the main line from Dinar to Eğirdir (then Eğridir ) in 1912 . The route network thus covered a total of 610 kilometers, and nothing changed until the nationalization. Planned continuations to Konya or a connection to the Baghdad Railway were no longer implemented in the scramble between the powers involved in the run-up to the First World War . The nationalization took place on June 1, 1935, the owners were compensated by the Turkish state with around 1.8 million pounds sterling . It was not until 1936, after being taken over by the Turkish state, that the former ORC network received a second connection to the rest of the country's route network with the connection from Karakuyu to Afyonkarahisar .

Route network

The ORC route network grew to around 611 kilometers from 1860 to 1912. Various information on the first train journey can be found in the literature; occasionally the year in which the license was granted is also named as the opening year. The first use of locomotives seems to have taken place as early as 1858, but the ORC did not officially start operating for the public until December 1860.

route	Length km	Opening date	Route item	Remarks
İzmir-Alsancak Railway Station - Sirinyer - Gaziemir - Torbalı	49.1	December 24, 1860	İzmir – Eğirdir Railway	From 1858 locomotive-hauled construction trains were used
Torbalı - Kozpınar	17.7	November 14, 1861	İzmir – Eğirdir Railway
Kozpınar - Selçuk	10.8	September 1862	İzmir – Eğirdir Railway
Selçuk - Ortaklar - Aydin	52.9	July 1, 1866	İzmir – Eğirdir Railway
Gaziemir - Seydikoy	1.4	1860		partly named as the opening year only in 1866
Sirinyer - Buca	2.5	1860		partly named as the opening year only 1870
Aydin - Kuyuçak	57	1881	İzmir – Eğirdir Railway
Kuyuçak - Sarayköy	43.9	July 1, 1882	İzmir – Eğirdir Railway
Torbalı - Çatal - Tire	47.9	September 1, 1883	Torbalı – Ödemiş Şehir railway line
Çatal - Oedemis	24.9	1884	Torbalı – Ödemiş Şehir railway line	partly named as the opening year only 1888
Sarayköy - Goncalı - Sütlaç - Dinar - Gümüşgün	144.8	October 13, 1889	İzmir – Eğirdir Railway
Goncalı - Denizli	9.3	October 13, 1889
Sütlaç - Çivril	31.1	December 29, 1889
Ortaklar - Söke	22nd	December 1, 1890
Dinar - Egirdir	94.3	November 1, 1912

The upgrading of the routes was mostly simple. There is largely a lack of noteworthy engineering structures. Only the crossing of the mountains near Aydin and the ascent to the Anatolian plateau near Sarayköy required longer inclines. Between Torbalı and Aydin, a tour of today's seaside resort of Kuşadası was initially planned to avoid complex engineering structures . The associated clear detour of around 30 kilometers, however, led to a rescheduling and today's tour via Çamlık with the apex tunnel there . The superstructure was simple. At the time of nationalization, with the exception of the section to Eğirdir, which was opened in 1912 and which was already designed for 15 tons of axle load , only axle loads of a maximum of 13.5 tons were permitted.

business

traffic

The focus of the ORC was the transport of agricultural products from the producers to İzmir. In terms of passenger traffic, suburban traffic around İzmir was the most important. Outside of this area, most routes were only served by one or two pairs of trains per day.

Locomotives

All locomotives procured by ORC were made in British locomotive factories , with the exception of a used purchase of two small tank locomotives built in France . The manufacturer of a locomotive is unknown, but the literature suggests that it was a self-made construction by the railway workshop in İzmir. Outwardly and technically, the ORC locomotives were therefore typical representatives of British locomotive construction, recognizable, for example, from the saddle tanks of most tank locomotives or the often found inner cylinders. A special feature was the only Garratt locomotive ever used in Turkey , which did not prove itself due to its complicated technology and was taken out of service before the ORC was transferred to the TCDD.

Numbers	Manufacturer	number	Year of construction (s)	design type	comment	image
1-6	Robert Stephenson and Company	6th	1859-62	2'B n2	Retirement provided until 1930, four additional copies, instead, to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway delivered
11-28	Sharp Stewart	18th	1869-88	1B n2	Six copies as series 23.001–006 to the TCDD, retired before 1955, 23.004 as a monument locomotive without tender in front of the Istanbul Haydarpaşa train station
29-35	Robert Stephenson and Company	7th	1875-91	Ct n2	Saddle tank machines, two copies as series 33.61–62 to the TCDD, retired after 1964, 33.62 as a museum locomotive in Çamlik
36-39	Sharp Stewart	4th	1889	Bt n2	Saddle tank machines, all copies as series 22.01–04 to the TCDD, last machine scrapped in 1956
40-47	Sharp Stewart	8th	1889-90	C n2	All copies as number 33011-018 to the TCDD, last machine probably scrapped in 1956, two additional copies provided instead to the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway delivered
50-53	Neilson & Company	8th	1890	2'B n2	Two copies as series 24.001–002 to the TCDD, last machine scrapped before 1955
71	Manufacturer unknown, probably self-made by the workshop in İzmir	1	1885	Ct n2	Saddle tank machine, sold to TCDD as series 33.71, probably retired in 1956
76-77	Gouin	2	1864	Bt n2	Hand Sale in 1880, originally in the construction of the Suez Canal used
80-83	Robert Stephenson and Company	4th	1906	D n2	All copies as series 44.091–094 (initially 44.111–114) to the TCDD, last machine retired after 1955
90-95	Robert Stephenson and Company	6th	1911	C n2	All copies as series 33.021–026 to the TCDD, last machine retired after 1955
65-67	Robert Stephenson and Company	3	1911	D1't n2	All copies as series 45.01–03 to the TCDD, the last machine retired after 1955, used as push locomotives and in suburban traffic from İzmir
5–7 (second cast)	Robert Stephenson and Company	3	1911	C1't n2	All copies as series 34.11-13 to the TCDD, last machine retired after 1955, use in suburban traffic from İzmir
100-103	Armstrong-Whitworth	4th	around 1885	C n2	Used after 1918, ex Great Western Railway (GWR), from the British Army's Railway Operating Department during the occupation of Izmir
110-111	Swindon	2	around 1883	C n2	Used purchase after 1918, ex GWR class 2301 , from the Railway Operating Department of the British Army during the occupation of İzmir a copy as 33.041 to the TCDD
225	Beyer-Peacock	1	1927	(1'D) + (D1 ') n4	Garratt type , the only example of this type used in Turkey
130-135	Robert Stephenson and Company	6th	1929-32	1'D1 'h2	All copies as series 46.101–106 to the TCDD, last locomotive 46.103 retired in spring 1987, now a museum locomotive in Çamlik

The End

The company was nationalized on June 1, 1935. The owners received about 1.8 million pounds as compensation . Only then, on November 26, 1935, was the former ORC network with the line from Karakuyu to Afyonkarahisar a second connection to the rest of the country's railway network, after the connection to the SCR.

literature

• Benno Bickel, Karl-Wilhelm Koch, Florian Schmidt: Steam under the half moon. The last few years of steam operation in Turkey. Verlag Röhr, Krefeld 1987, ISBN 3-88490-183-4
• Benno Bickel: The Turkish Railways and their Steam Locomotives , Verlag Röhr, Krefeld 1976
• AE Durrant: The Steam Locomotives of Eastern Europe. David & Charles, Newton Abbot 1972, ISBN 0-7153-4077-8
• Neil Robinson: World Rail Atlas and historical summary. Volume 8: The Middle East and Caucasus. 2006.

Web links

Turkish railways. In: Viktor von Röll (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Railway System . 2nd Edition. Volume 9: Seaport tariffs - transition curve . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin / Vienna 1921, p.  373 ff.

• Trains of Turkey: ORC Ottoman Railway Company (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Trains of Turkey: ORC opening dates , accessed November 1, 2015