The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1882-04-05
ENGLISH PASSENGER CARS.
vehicles that ARE Modelled after the Old
Fashioned Stage Coach,

The English railway carriages strike
Americans as being very odd in appear.
ance. Some are mounted on four wheels,
and the resemblance to an old style stage
coach is made more plain by the four COM
partnents, or coupes, into which each first
class carriage is divided. The newer form
of carriage is longer, has more wheels under
it, and moro compartments. Frequently q
set of wheels is placed in the center of the
coach, in which case there is more jolting.
The interior of the compartment follows
MS nearly as may be- the same model of an
old-fashioned stage coach. The first-class
compartments are well upholstered with car
rage cloth. Sometimes anti-macassars add
to the tidy appearance of the furnishings.
Arm-straps are Mt the ends of the seats and
shelves extend across, near the tops of the
partitions-or rather racks with twine nett
ings -to hold hand luggage. Elastic cords
mark out parallelograms on the ceiling,
parnlellograms Of suflcient width to receive
the brim of hat and hold it securely, crown
downward, during the journey. The lamp,
which hangs from the center, is eonical
glass arrangement let down through the roof
of the COACH The wick of this lamp is two
inches wide and the oil is fed to it through a
tube from a'reseroir above. The glass
prevents the lamp from being meddled with
from below. It is accessible only from the
top of The car.
The compartment is in size some six feet
by five, with seats extending across and &c
commodating eight passengers, who sit four
on SIDE facing each other In America,
railroad travellers insist upon being seated SO
as to look forward. In Europe Mt least half
of the passenger list must ride backward
In fact the preference is to ride in that way.
There are greater advantages in respect to
warmth and greater immunity from cinders
when the windows are open.
Doors at each side give admission to the
compartment. The handle with which they
are fastened is always ON the outside FREE
quently the doors are doubly locked; when
such is the case the passenger must wait un-
I'll they are opened at the station. The up
per part of the door is of glass and may be
lowered, a stout strap with eyelet holes regu-
lating the opening. Tho windows on either
side of the door are lowered in the same way.
Curtains screen both doors and window.
A foot board projects from below the floor
extending the whole length of the coach,
facilitating admission to the compartment
and permitting the guard to walk from end
to end of the train. The Southwestern and
others of the best equipped railroads estab.
lsh electrical communication between the
iilst-class compartments and the van oecu-
pied by the guards.
Over one of the middle seats in the COM
partmcnt is a button, which, being pulled
ont rings bell in the eyan.' The passen-
ger, having pulled the alarm, cannot replace
the button. The Encouragement of the APP
paratus discovers the compartment from
whence the communication came. There is
penalty of f5 for pulling the electric button
and sounding the electric alarm without ree-
sonable and sufficient cause. Correspond.
ence Detroit Prese.