Construction, description and delivery of a new Hospital Train - Princess Christian 1915

[Bardess]

A very interesting article from The Smethwick Telephone dated 10th April 1915

ANOTHER HOSPITAL TRAIN FROM THE CARRIAGE WORKS

The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Co Ltd have been entrusted with another important order for a hospital train. It will be remembered that during the South African War the local firm executed a similar order and that great interest was manifested in this particular enterprise, which was due largely to the initiative of the Princess Christian. Her Highness visited Smethwick upon that occasion in order to inspect the train. This week there was inspected at Paddington the second hospital train, which has been designed and constructed at the Carriage Works. It bears the name of the Princess Christian Hospital Train and is destined for France. This train is due, it is said, entirely to “the initiative and energy of Princess Christian, by whom all the necessary funds have been raised, and it is a successor to and improvement upon that which her Royal Highness sent to South Africa fifteen years ago. The experience thus gained has been utilised in the present instance by Sir John Furley and Mr William J Fieldhouse, who have again carried out the important undertaking, and the train has been constructed by the Birmingham Railway Carriage Company under the personal superintendence of the last-named gentleman. It meets the War Office requirement that every hospital train should be capable of carrying four hundred patients, with full accommodation for doctors, nurses and orderlies, as well as kitchens and storerooms. In order that the approval of the French engineers should be obtained, a joint committee of English railway managers and French railway engineers was formed, and it is understood that the result gives every satisfaction to the authorities concerned. The train consists of fourteen coaches, including four for sitting up patients, is of the total length of 700 feet, and is finely equipped.”

A DESCRIPTION OF THE TRAIN

It was first intended that there should be eight coaches, but the War Office desired that four others should be added for sitting-up patients. To comply with French conditions an ordinary brake van was added to each end thus making up fourteen vehicles of a total length of about 700ft. The train is, in fact, a travelling hospital. After the first brake van the first coach contains an office, provided with a bed, fittings, desk, safe, etc for the quartermaster-sergeant, partitioned off from a ward which contains beds for thirty patients. Coaches Nos 2 and 3 have each 36 beds, with lavatory in the centre, and lockers in the four corners. No 4 has beds for twelve orderlies, with two lockers and lavatory, a kitchen fully equipped, and provided with a tank for 60 gallons of hot water, and beyond this a capacious storeroom for linen. The first part of carriage No 5 affords sleeping accommodation for the nurses, and there are two compartments for nurses and doctors, dining rooms, and an office with sleeping accommodation for the principal medical officer. Next to this is the surgery, followed by a sleeping room for doctors. Nos 6 and 7 are similar to Nos 2 and 3 and each contains 36 beds for patients. No 8 contains beds for 12 orderlies, a kit store, and a second kitchen, chiefly intended for hot water and small cooking. The four coaches for fifty sitting-up patients contain folding tables between the seats, so that meals can be taken there. The terminal brake van completes the train.

There is an ample supply of water throughout the train, each kitchen being provided with 90 gallons of hot water, and each of the hospital coaches is provided with 60 gallons of cold water and an extra tank containing six gallons of drinking water. The train is lighted with gas and electricity, and in case of those sources failing gimble candle lamps have been placed in each carriage. As platforms are not often used in stations on the Continent, sets of broad tread steps have been supplied for the convenience of the orderlies. The equipment of this train has been the subject of much anxious thought, and it runs into many hundreds of items, including beds, bedding, linen, china, plate, and glass, cutlery and enamelled metal ware, hot-water trays, invalid tables etc. All these articles are of the best description. In fact, the train is so built and equipped that it can, if necessary, be employed as a stationary hospital on wheels.

Although Princess Christian has personally thanked the many kind and generous donors to the fund she has collected for the building and equipment of the train, she is nevertheless desirous of expressing publicly her gratitude to all those who have helped her. She would like specially to record her great appreciation of the splendid gift from the Canadian branch of the Red Cross Society, as well as a donation of 10,000 pounds “an Easter gift from one with a grateful heart for mercies received.”

[seaJane]

That's fascinating - thank you!

sJ

[Bardess]

Thanks Jane. I didn't realise that they were named