ORC Oriental Railway Company

ORC History

The ORC concession was given on September 22, 1856 to build and operate the line between İzmir and Aydın. The concession was to last for 50 years from October 1, 1860, the date originally agreed for the opening of the line. However, construction time and cost were underestimated, the estimated initial capital of £1.2 million proved too small and the opening to Aydın had to be delayed until 1866.

The first section, from İzmir to Seydiköy, was opened on October 30, 1858 and was the first railway in Anatolia and in the Ottoman Empire, the second in the Middle East after the Alexandria to Cairo line in Egypt (opened in 1856). (See below regarding the openning date)

The ORC obtained additional concessions step by step and managed to extend the line as far as Eğridir in 1912. The ORC also acquired in 1921 the suburban line from Şirinyer to Buca on the outskirts of İzmir, which operated since 1870. The intent of the company was to carry mineral and agricultural goods from the rich Menderes Valleys to the port of İzmir. However, this traffic was not enough to generate big revenues and the ORC was never highly profitable. One way out would have been to extend the network to the Anatolian Plateau, but the ORC failed to secure the concession to extend to Konya or to Afyon. Indeed railways concession were highly political, the British voters were not keen for their government to help the Ottomans building railways that might compete with other British interest in India and in the Middle East. On the other hand the CFOA which had secured railway concession in Afyon and Konya lobbied the Ottomans against further extension of the ORC. Consequently, the ORC acted very much like a colonial railway: connecting a large port to the interland, facilitating export of raw material and agricultural products and imports of manufactured products. Because of poor Ottoman planning, the ORC could play no role at integrating various large city such as Izmir with Konya.

The line was placed under special military control during WWI but was handed back after the war in 1919. It was disrupted again by the war between the Turkish Nationalists and the Greeks because the line was right in the conflict area. After the victory of Atatürk, the line, badly damaged, was handed back again to the ORC on November 6, 1922.

The Turkish Republic arranged to buy the line for £1,825,840 when the ORC concession expired (law 2475 of May 30, 1935). On June 1, 1935 it became part of the TCDD.

Three sections of the line caused major difficulties to the engineers:

• the crossing of the mountains between the Küçük Menderes and the Büyük Menderes valleys: from Selçuk the line rise steeply at a rate of 2,8% on 5,8 km to Çamlık. Then goes down quickly to Ortaklar.
• the climb on to the Anatolian plateau east of Sarayköy. Here again 3,0% gradient are encountered.
• the arrival at Eğridir: the line has to go down to the lakeshore.

Otherwise, the lines were built through fairly level country using a light track having a maximum axle load of only 13,5 tons, except for the Karakuyu-Eğirdir section were it was raised to 15 tons.

ORC lines opening dates

First train in Turkey

There is a controversy regarding the ORC opening date and, hence, the first train in Turkey. All sources agrees on the concession date: 23 September 1856. Sources diverge about the opening date. Unfortunately, I did not had access to primary sources and had to work with secondary sources, themselves not citing primary sources.

Dates given in the story here above are consistent with:

• Steam in Turkey, Talbot E., Continental Railway Circle, 1981, page 6
• Yatakli Wagon, Turkish Steam Travel, Behrend, George; Kelly, Vincent; Jersey Artists, 1969.
• Population and Accessibility: An Analysis of Turkish Railroads, Kolars, John; Malin, Henry J.; New York; American Geographical Society, Reprint from the Geographical Review, Volume LX, No. 2, 1970, Pages 229-246.

All three indicates data from Great Britain Naval Intelligence Division is used. This must be the primary source.

However, dates given by TCDD (i.e. 1860 as first date) are consistent with:

• Railway development in the Ottoman Empire, 1856-1914, Karkar, Yaqub N.; Vantage Press, Ann Arbor, 1972; page 66
• Türkiye Demiryollarında Tarihi Olaylar, Işıksaçan Mustafa, Demiryol Dergisi Yayınlarından, Ankara, 1963, page 13.

Regarding the Seydiköy branch, the later contradict itself by indicating 1866 on top of page 13 and 1886 in the middle of same page.

A quite newly published book provide an interesting insight. This is in "Smyrne et l'Occident, de l'Antiquité au XXIème siècle", Léon Kontente, Yvelines Edition, 2006. page 506. In summary, the first track was laid between September 1857 to November 1858 however, due to poor engineering and lack of cash, works had to stop. The company reorganized itself, resume works in 1859 and a formal inauguration was done on 24 December 1860 , from Alsancak to Torbali (43 km)

So a possible conclusion is that train did ran in 1858 on a 15 km track, soon stopped when the ORC went short of cash. 1860 could be retained as official start date, however not as far as Sütlaç as indicated on TCDD website. Torbalı sounds more in line with the technical and financial possibilities of the time.

In any case, this matter deserves to be research thoroughly. The 150th anniversary is approaching and we have to know when to celebrate this!

ORC Network

Schematic map

Schematic map of ORC lines in 1912. Drawing JP Charrey.

Izmir area, final railway development, excluding LRT lines. Drawing JP Charrey.

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