The Nairn Transport Company was a pioneering motor transport company that operated a trans-desert route from

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropoli ...

and Damascus to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesipho ...

, and back again, from 1923. Their route became known as "The Nairn Way". The firm continued, in various guises, until 1959.

Origins

The company was formed by Norman Nairn (1894–1968) and his brother Gerald (1897–1980) of

Blenheim, New Zealand Blenheim ( ; mi, Waiharakeke) is the most populous town in the region of Marlborough, in the north east of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of The surrounding Marlborough wine region is well known as the centre of ...

who had served under Allenby in the British Army in the Middle East during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. In 1905, their doctor father had been one of the first in New Zealand to own a motor car, a Reo, and the brothers had a successful motorcycle dealership there prior to World War I.The Nairn Way
by John M. Munro and Martin Love in ''Saudi Aramco World'', July/August 1981, Vol. 32, No. 4. Retrieved 28 April 2014. Among other brands, they were the sole agents for

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...

."The Cadillac Versus the Camel"
by Maurice D. Hendry in ''Veteran and Vintage Magazine'', February 1968, pp. 182-188 & p. 196
Archived here.
/ref> After the war, the brothers first traded in ex-army vehicles, then established a motor dealership in 1919 but it was not very successful and they decided to operate a taxi service between Beirut and Haifa with the cars they couldn't sell. There followed a process of experimentation with different vehicles and the brothers often came into conflict with the owners of horse-drawn vehicles to whose business they were a threat. In 1920 they began a mail and passenger service between Beirut and Haifa. In 1923, the British consul in Damascus, C.E.S. Palmer, asked them to examine the possibility of crossing the Syrian Desert by car. Iraq was under a British

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by ...

mandate at the time and a quicker route home would have been a great advantage to the British staff there. Plans for a rail link to the Mediterranean coast had faltered and the air route to Cairo was infrequent and expensive. The Nairns also received encouragement from local traders who were using camels which were slow and liable to attack by tribesmen. One was local sheik and gold smuggler Mohammad Ibn Bassam who had made trial runs of different routes using his own cars.

Trial runs and first official trip

In April 1923, the Nairns made the first of six trial runs from Damascus to Baghdad. The first trip took them three days for a journey of 880 kilometers (550 miles) using a

Buick Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...

, an

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it pro ...

and a

Lancia Lancia () is an Italian car manufacturer and a subsidiary of FCA Italy S.p.A., which is currently a Stellantis division. The present legal entity of Lancia was formed in January 2007 when its corporate parent reorganised its businesses, but it ...

. Having demonstrated the feasibility of the plan, Norman Nairn proposed to British officials in Baghdad that the brothers start a postal service between Damascus and Baghdad. The British agreed, as did the French in Damascus, and the French even provided gold to pay-off desert tribes to ensure safe transit. The brothers signed a five-year contract with the Iraqi government to transport mail from Baghdad to Damascus and Haifa, and back again. With the help of the Nasser trading family, the Nairn Transport Company was established and the first official trip made on 18 October 1923. The Nairn's purchased seven type 63

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed ...

s, finding these cars the most reliable, rugged and well equipped for the arduous desert treks. In addition to carrying two or three passengers plus luggage and mail, the Cadillacs were modified to carry extra

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic ...

, an

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, a tank of drinking water plus enough food and provisions for one week. The cars also carried tools and many spare parts should repairs be required along the way. The new arrangements cut the transit time for mail from Baghdad to Europe to around 10 days from the 30 days previously required. Mail had previously travelled by ship from

Port Said Port Said ( ar, بورسعيد, Būrsaʿīd, ; grc, Πηλούσιον, Pēlousion) is a city that lies in northeast Egypt extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, north of the Suez Canal. With an approximate population of ...

, via the Suez Canal, around the

Arab Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Pl ...

to the port of

Basrah Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

and then by rail to Baghdad."The Baghdad to Haifa Overland Mail: The Publicity Envelopes of the Nairn Transport Company" by Rainer Fuchs in ''

The London Philatelist ''The London Philatelist'' was first published in January 1892
by Rutbah to an Iran Petroleum Company post more quickly than an

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to Union of South Africa, South Africa, British India, India, Australia and the Far East, inclu ...

aircraft that left at the same time. The Nairn cars were also cheaper, costing £30 ($40) per passenger from Beirut to Baghdad, compared to £150 ($199) by air from Cairo to Baghdad.

Drivers and dangers

At first, only two cars made the trip weekly, but by 1925, eight or nine, or even twelve, cars were travelling at the same time. The original bedouin guides were dropped in favour of extra drivers and the cars changed from daytime travel to driving in the cooler temperatures at night. The cars travelled in convoy, following well established routes that avoided wells or wadis where raiders might be hiding, and regularly checking on each other. The drivers became acclimatised to the conditions and were experts in the gilhooley maneuver where a car would spin several times, without turning over, on the polished mud flats that were part of the journey, before the driver regained control. Temperatures were very high in the desert and sometimes the tyres caught fire. The drivers were a colourful group of mostly English, Australian, New Zealand, Canadian or American, known for their drinking and whoring. In order to keep them out of brothels and know where to find them, the Nairns gave each one a house and a girl for company. One-eyed John Reid used a Cadillac to chase down and shoot a cheetah. Ryan, an Australian, was often drunk and filled his water bottles with Arak, a Local spirit. Although the convoys were always armed and were often attacked, the Nairns preferred to give the raiders what they wanted rather than risk the death of a passenger and no passenger ever died on a trip, though one was wounded and a driver was shot and later died from his wounds. The drivers were wary of carrying weapons in case they were used against them and in one case a revolver owned by a driver was held to his chest by an Arab and only failed to discharge because the man did not know how to release the safety catch. On another occasion, two Buicks were stolen by raiders and later used to launch attacks against convoys.

French and British attitudes

5 August 1926 letter from Baghdad to Kent via Nairn overland route

The Nairns received strong co-operation from the French who recognised early on the advantages of the service and gave the Nairns the French overland mail contract, allowed them to import equipment without

customs duties A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and ...

and gave a small subsidy. They sometimes provided an escort and after one skirmish, allowed the Nairns to chase-down the raiders in two Cadillacs. The cars soon outran the camels and after the raiders' ammunition ran out they surrendered their knives to the Nairn men expecting their throats to be cut. In fact the Nairns handed them over to the French who hanged them. The British, the other major European power in the region, also recognised the advantages of the service but provided no subsidy. One problem may have been that the Nairns never used British vehicles. They didn't use French ones either but the French didn't care. British cars, even the desert-proven

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated ...

tended to be built for comfort over smooth European roads rather than endurance and lacked the power, high ride and cooling necessary for the long desert runs. They were also too expensive. Lord Nuffield sent a Morris Commercial six-wheel vehicle out but it was a complete failure in desert conditions.

Nairn Eastern Transport Company Limited

In 1926, the brothers took over the Eastern Transport Company and merged it with Nairn. They sold the new company to English and French investors and Norman Nairn became managing director of the new entity which from 20 September 1926 became incorporated with

limited liability Limited liability is a legal status in which a person's financial liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a corporation, company or partnership. If a company that provides limited liability to it ...

as the Nairn Eastern Transport Company Limited.

Routes

The main route was Damascus to Baghdad but local troubles and commercial opportunities often involved variations. After the Druze Revolt of 1925, a new route was required around the troubled area, Beirut-Haifa-Jerusalem-Dead Sea-Amman and Rutbah. This involved five-mile long stretches of

lava bed Lava fields are large, mostly flat areas of surface or subaquatic lava flows. Such features are generally composed of highly fluid basalt lava, and can extend for tens or hundreds of miles across the underlying terrain. Morphology and st ...

which was very destructive of the cars. A better route of 650 miles was found of Beirut-Homs-Palmyra-Rutbah-Baghdad. Eventually the original route was reinstated. By 1927, the brothers had made nearly 4000 crossings and carried 20,000 passengers and 4,500 sacks of mail.

Vehicles

Royal Air Force in the Middle East, 1944-1945

The very long journeys made by the company required a variety of vehicles. The first used were

and

motor cars, and Buick in the United States issued an advertisement in the ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...

'' in 1927 with the legend "Buick carries the Desert Mail". Cadillacs proved very reliable, even in the extreme heat, due to their large radiators and excellent cooling systems. Gerald Nairn said "The Cadillac's ability to take punishment was just amazing" and by the time the firm dispensed with them they had done 200,000 miles each, at least 150-160,000 of which had been on the Damascus to Baghdad run. They were able to run comfortably at 70 mph, a great speed for a motor car in 1923. Cadillac advertising boasted "The Cadillac replaces the Camel". New, larger vehicles were tried, first Safeway six-wheelers from the United States in 1925 then A.C.F.s (American Car and Foundry). In 1934, the Nairns introduced two

Marmon-Herrington The Marmon-Herrington Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for trucks and other vehicles. Earlier, the company built military vehicles and some tanks during World War II, and until the late 1950s or early 1960s was ...

buses specially adapted for them which had 18 tyres and two passenger levels. The Nairn's archetypal vehicle was the "Pullman" bus, introduced in 1937, and built using different companies' components to their design. The Pullmans were single level but air-conditioned with refreshment facilities. They were articulated, ran on 10 instead of 18 tyres and cost £12,000 each. The time taken for each run was reduced from 24 to 18 hours. During WW2, New Zealand troops occupying Syria were free to use Nairn’s bus service between Damascus and Bagdad. It ran twice a week at the cost of £18 Sterling for the return trip.Awdry E.C. Lieut. Officer Commanding , 2NZ Divisional Provost Company, 21 March 1942, Routine Orders #59A, Baalbek. Available at Wellington Archives, NZ. Each bus could carry 18 passengers and by 1958 had travelled 2 million miles. The Nairns had a well equipped workshop at their headquarters in Damascus where they employed 85 people near the end.

Nairn Transport Company Limited

In 1936, the Nairn Eastern Transport Company Limited was renamed the Nairn Transport Company Limited after a takeover by founder Norman Nairn, backed by British investors. In 1952, Norman, by now retired and facing a more difficult local political situation, sold the company to his employees. In 1959, the firm was liquidated after border disputes, competition from air transport and political problems made the service unviable.

References

External links

A 1947 journey from Beirut to Baghdad
* ttp://fuchs-online.com/overlandmail/introduction.htm Rainer's Overland Mail Baghdad Haifa Pagesbr>Listen to a 1942 radio programme recorded in Damascus with Norman Nairn
Transport companies established in 1920 Transport companies of Asia Transport in the Middle East Transport companies disestablished in 1959 Transport in Syria Transport in Iraq International bus transport in Asia Transport companies of Syria Road transport in the Middle East Transport in Mandatory Palestine 1920 establishments in Lebanon 1959 disestablishments in Syria