THE TRAIN YARD - ENGINE 70414 CAMPOUND

This station, built in October 1915 by the Turkish army, was a major railway centre on a line to transport troops to Egypt and the Suez Canal. When the British returned to the city in 1917, the operation of the network continued until 1927. Then the line that served the coast was abandoned due to its high maintenance costs and low use. The premises remained for many years as they were. Israel's independence in 1948 changed nothing since the new built railway line never reached the old station (but the new one in service today).

In 2011, the municipality decided to reopen the station as a museum, with a replica of the steam locomotive "the black diamond" - No. 70414, which was the subject of a song and a short film in the 1950 s (when scrapped in Haifa). After traction and research, it was finally a model held in Iran that arrived at Be'er Sheva in 2012 via the port of Ashod.

Since 2013, the old railway station has become an outdoor location, with a café on the pleasant terrace which allows you to contemplate the superb machine and a few wooden cars highlighted. Nearby is a bust of General Kemal Atatürk, the father of modern Turkey. A memorial was erected in 2002 in memory of the Turkish soldiers killed during the takeover of Be'er Sheva in October 1917, as well as a cemetery of allied soldiers, mainly British and Australian, victims of the same battle.