Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-11-17
EUROPEAN RAILROADING.
A WRITER COMPARES 1T WITH
THAT OF AMERICA.
Comfortless Trips by Rail Between
Old World Capitals and Cities
Red Tapeism-Etc.

Europe, and comparing them and their
management with the railway service in
this country, says
The man who finds fault with railroad
travel in America would be reduced to
chronic and fearful condition of detection on
the other side of the water The discomforts
of life on q continental railway are almost
inconceivable. The TWO great cities OF
Berlin and Vienna, 'or instance, are CON
nected by a car service that would disgrace
the most u solate ard diiatnTy Of Southern
railroads On one occasion / took the trip
in winter and it haunts me il ke a night
mare. We left Berlin at O'Clock in the
evening in close AID stuffy carriages. which
were heated by patent arrangement that
is very highly thought of on the other side
Ii is neither an ing nj 2us nor an elaborate
scheme. The seats run crosswise, and at
the end of each seat on the outside of the
car is little door. Whenever it suits the
fancy of the railroad officials they yank
open this door and push long can of boil
ing water under the seat, lock the door
again, and rest in the serene consciousness
that the inmates of the compartment are
in q state of beatific comfort The hot
wster heats the compartment in a very
short time but the heat is of very dis
agreeable nature. Everything smells
musty and close, The carriages are SO low
that 1t is often impossible to stand upright
in them without removing your hat, and
there is no ventilation except by lowering
one of the windows. On this OCCASION the
thermometer outside was very low and
going lower; there was gale blowing, and
opening the windows resulted in a sudden
and profound drop in the temperature, a
cold in the head, and considerable water in
the compartment. The noise of showing
the cans under the seats was like the dis
charge of artillery. The arms OF the seats
were high, so that enc could not lie down,
and the compartments were too narrow to
admit of stretching the legs across.
Another unfortunate and myself spent
fifteen hours in this torture and decided
for American roads. There was no chance
of getting anything to eat on the route. At
short intervals the hot cans were showed
in, and then we would sit there and swelter
for half an hour, then put on our over
coats, lower the windows and get some
fresh air into the compartment. At
O'Clock in the morning the guards walked
us to partake of coffee at % cents cup. 1t
was unquestionably the yilest mixture |
had ever touched. AT nine o'clock we ar
rived in Vienna, and waited around in a
dreary station for an hour, until our luggage
had been searched. Nobody hurried because
officials, who are appointed for life and
who hsd no possible interest in pleasing
the public. People who wish to have the
Government take charge of the American
railroads know not whereof they speak 1t
is inconceivable, that, with all the resources
of modern railroad invention, such a
wretched accommodation should be main
tanned between two cities of such import
ance as Vienna and Berlin and yet the
condition is no better between Berlin and
London. l have tried to explain our sys-
tenn of yestibule trains 10 foreigners, but
when told them that we had baths, smok-
ing compartments, observation cars, libra
ries, diniDg-rooms, and the like on wheels,
they not only did not think it was so, but
they placidly dismissed it as being too
utterly absurd for second thought. Berlin
and London are two of The greatest cities
in the world. The quickest time that is
made between them is twenty-six hours,
and this is by no means sure thing
The trip is replete with horrors and dis.
comforts.
There is so much militarism in Germany
that trains and railroads are managed to a
point bordering on tomfoolery.
Even the eng -neers are in uniform; all of
the train hands are soldiers; every station
has Captain and subordinates there are
uniforms for all employees, and there is
more saluting and drawing up in line and
ceremony performed at the arrival and de-
parture of a railroad train than there is at
the election of a President with u.s. All
this sort of nonsense takes time. The Ger
man trains spend seven minutes at sta
ton, where an American train would tarry
for less than hal. minute. Even the ex-
press trains stop at an uncons cionable num-
Der of places, and the result is that the time
is eaten up with seven and ten minute
stops until the head is weary and the heart
grows sick.
A tremendous innovation was made last
winter by the German roads in putting an
eating car on their line. 1t is a wretched
little box of a car, with half-cooked food
and an ample plenitude of dirt But the
entire German press reached a point bor-
dering on eestacy over it. They conceived
1t to be the most magnificent improvement
in railroad travel extant. 1t ran only for
an hour on the road and the rest of the
day one was obliged to put in IN a condition
OF hunger or buy sausages and watery beer
along the route.
The French roads do not differ materially
from the German, except that the food is
better at the wayside stations, and one may,
by paying an exorbitant price, secure the
privilege of a coupe lit. This is long
bench, the bottom of which pulls out and
forms a back-breakipg substitute for a
couch. 1t is about five and half feet long
and less than foot and half in width
These couches are arranged side by side,
and people who sleep in them are packed
together like sardines. The charge is much
higher than it is for Pullman berths over
here. For some reason or other Pullman
cars are making their way slowly on the
other side. This is particularly the case in
England, where there is every reason why
our sleeping-cars should be welcomed |
noticed in running to Edinboro' from Lon
don that Englishmen steadily refused to
patronize the Pullman, though one of the
cars was on the train. They themselves
make no well-defined and convincing OBJ
lection to the cars. They simply prefer to
wrap themselves up in their rugs, shiver,
suffer from the drafts of the constantly
opening doors, and otherwise enjoy them
selves according to the good old traditions
OF the land. Perhaps after the express train
service is thoroughly under way over there,
the people will be educated up to point
where they will accept Pullmans without
shivers of outraged modesty and that un 1e-
Unable sense of danger which pervades
everything which has not been established
in England for century or two at least.
The military aspect of the railroads on
the continent dwarfs every other feature.
Chauncey Depew gave very apt illustra
ton of the condition of things when he
said that Europe looked like vast mill
tary barracks. One is particularly i'm
pressed by it in travelling on the railroads
1t is not only the uniforms of officials that
attract attention, but every once in awhile,
on siding, or at one of the big car-houses,
one runs against such indications of war as
troop trains, armored engines and the like
Indeed, at one of the first stations where
stopped in Germany in going over from
London, saw an armored train drawn up
on a siding and surrounded by crowds of
admiring soldiers. They were residents of
the place, and, as every able-bodied man in
Europe is a soldier, they were criticising
the train with every evidence of tactical