The paper is dedicated to the Trans-Iranian railroad in photographs taken by Americans and British in the interwar period and during WWII. Built in 1927-1938, the railroad connected Tehran to the Caspian and the Persian Guld coasts. This first significant railroad in Iran was constructed relatively late due to the rivalry between the British and the Russians in what became known as the “Great Game.” As part of Reza Shah’s modernizing reforms, the railroad was perceived as a symbol of modernization and national strength – it was constructed under the supervision of a Danish company but financed by national taxes. According to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention of 2021, “The Trans-Iranian Railway represents the expansion of the modern state power in the 20th century in a specific non-colonised Asian context within active involvement of national capital and stakeholders.” And yet that very railroad prompted the Allied occupation during WWII with the goal of supplying the Soviets through the “Persian corridor,” with the railroad playing a key role. The paper will analyze groups of photographs, including those taken by E. M. Crawford, an American engineer who in 1930-1932 served as Acting Assistant Chief Engineer and Officer Engineer for the Imperial Railways of Persia and supervised the design and purchasing of some 250 kilometers of railroad, as well as the development of the port at Bandar Shapour on the Persian Gulf. His photographs are complemented by those taken by the American and British military during WWII, for example by Sergeant Frederick Winterburn, who served in Iran with Number 159 Railway Construction Company of the Royal Engineers. The paper aspires to understand what the photographs tell us about the men behind the camera, their views regarding Iran, its people, and their role in the war. For example, we shall examine their choice of subjects which were often limited to the technological side of the railroad, including locomotives, tunnels, runaway accidents and trains stations, and group images of Westerners with occasional local dignitaries. At the same time, the photographers generally overlooked the spectacular landscapes of Iran and images of Iranian people