Influence of Railway Travelling on Public Health (1862)

From the "Lancet", 1862

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PASSENGER-CARRIAGES.
In Passenger-carriages the long springs somewhat modify the sensations experienced. But being very rigid and only slightly curved, they afford relief to a very limited extent. It is when these yield too much (on a rough bit of the line) that there is experienced the most disagreeable short bump occasioned by the carriage coming down on the flattened surface of the spring.
Third-class carriages.In the third-class carriages the motion is somewhat better than on the truck; but the short, sharp jolts experienced are eminently unpleasant; the sensations felt after a long journey rather resembling the soreness ensuing after a bruise. An eminent surgeon, of large railway experience, informs us that he frequently hears third-class passengers complain for days from the constant knocking together of knees which successive jolts during the journey produce; for the close packing prevents any wide separation of the legs.
Second class.In the second class, where the seats are covered, the motion is broken up by this intervention into a greater number of less violent shocks, having less intervals between them; for the total amount of motion communicated to the carriage is the same.
First class.In the first class this alteration in character of the motion experienced by passengers takes place to a still greater degree, on account of the thick cushions and padding. It becomes an almost incessant repetition of mere vibrations; swaying the body according to the direction of the impulse.
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With care and cleanliness, the linings of railway carriages may last pure till the cloth is worn out, and they do so in some places; but in some counties (and it seems to me that Lancashire is one of the worst) there is no regard to the property of the company or the comfort of those coming after; dirty boots are put on the cushions, and the carpets are fouled by expectoration.
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When temperature rises, all impure surfaces become more offensive and everything known has a small - persons and animals pre-eminently. We can readily smell the inmates of a carriage for a considerable time after they have left, if the carriage has been crowded.
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One of the evils of railway travelling in warm weather is the dust. the amount, especially at some distance from the engine, is sometimes more difficult to bear than the confinement of the air; and I think it must at times be more hurtful than the work of the stonemason, beside whom i have frequently stood, feeling far less dust than on a railway on a fine summer day, and yet we know the mason suffers.
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[after reference to the danger of draughts]. ............ Yet the coldest journey by rail that I ever made was to Torquay on a night before Christmas of 1860. In spite of foot-warmers, abundance of furs, and closed windows and ventilators, all the glass of the windows was crisply frosted on the inside, and I was so be-numbed with cold that I did not recover comfortable temperature for several days. It was the coldest night of that cold year, and on the next morning I saw that the thermometer on a south aspect at Torquay standing at 12°F.