Historical background

The Jaffa-Jerusalem railway connected the center of the country with the city of Jerusalem and operated between 1892-1998. Until the railroad was built, the road was made by carts, a journey that took about 14 hours.
The track was paved at the initiative of Yosef Navon, who in 1888 received a license from the Ottoman government to establish the line .
The line was inaugurated on September 26, 1892 in a festive ceremony held at the Jerusalem station . The train line significantly shortened the travel time, from about 14 hours to only 4 hours.
During World War I the train was confiscated by the Turkish government which was one of the parties to the war , the track was extended by 5 centimeters (from 1 meter to 1.05 ) to accommodate the Hijaz railway that connected Damascus to Saudi Arabia.
The locomotives that traveled on the track were steam locomotives of the Baldwin type .
In 1918, the Turkish army, which retreated before the British army, also destroyed the railway, and especially the bridges, in order to hinder the movement of the British army .
After the victories of the British army (year 1918), the track was widened to fit the standard British width (143.5 cm) .
The locomotives during the British era were steam locomotives, some owned by the British Army, made by Manning Wardle and others including the Americans made by the Baldwin company ,
In 1920 the railway was transferred from the ownership of the army and the company PR - Palestine Railways was established
During the Great Arab Revolt (1936-1939), the railroad was one of the targets of the Arab rioters’ attacks. The tracks were damaged and firing was carried out on passing trains ,
After the Arab Revolt, the number of passengers by train decreased, and in 1946 the rail network in Israel was cut off from the neighboring countries.
After the War of Independence, the line to Jerusalem was re-inaugurated on August 7, 1949 ,
In 1951, the steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives

The long travel time of the train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem meant that the number of passengers was getting smaller and smaller, until in 1998 this train line was stopped.
In 2005, the line was reopened with new infrastructure, and the train station was moved to the Malcha neighborhood

Hamsila Park

A park that stretches along the old Jerusalem-Jaffa railroad. The length of the park is about 5 km and it passes through many neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
The park begins at the "Old Station" complex in the Bekaa neighborhood of Jerusalem and reaches the Beit Tzafa, Talpiot and Malha neighborhoods.
The construction of the park began in 2010 and its construction was completed in 2015

About the signs

There are two main types of signs:
Signs that "wrap" light poles. These signs are long rectangles, consist of 2 or 3 panels, include text and images in 3 languages (Hebrew, English and Arabic) | 3719|
Signs placed on posts. These are rectangular signs, the main part of which is a picture accompanied by a title in 3 languages .
Both types of signs are numbered, with the numbering starting at the beginning of the park and progressing along the line.
The signs describe the history of the train line , neighborhoods in Jerusalem where the line passed , locomotives and wagons that were used on the train line , festive events related to the train , and facilities that were used by the train, such as Semaphore and others
A number of signs are dedicated to the documentary film "70414" in which the steam locomotives were separated in favor of the diesel locomotives , ,