Morning journal and courier., 1889-10-03
FOREIGN RAILROADS.


Frank fort-Rolllng stock.
Judge Lynde Harrison was interviewed
yesterday by q COURIER reporter regarding
what he saw of foreign railroads on his recent
European tour, and the enquiries were made
with special reference to q comparison be-
tween the quality of the railroad service In
this and leading European countries.
Did you observe the condition of the rail.
road service in Europe for the purpose OF
/ did, especially in England, France, Bel
Rium, Holland and Germany.
How did the rates of passenger fare and the
accommodations for passengers compare with
those In Americal
The accommodations for frst. class passen-
gers In England and France are as good but
no better than those furnished in the ordinary
oars of the New York and New Haven and
Boston and Albany railroads. In the other
countries ! have named the accommodations
In the frst-class cars are not az good as those
In France and England. In Belgium the
railroads are managed by the State. In hol.
land most of the railroads are owned and
managed by the State. During the last few
years the different States composing the Ger
man empire have acquired by purchase near
" all the railroads in those States. The ac-
commodations furnished to frst-class passen-
gers In Belgium and Germany are not as good
az they were ten years ago. Governmental
ownership and management In those countries
has resulted In the deterioration of the rolling
stock and the public have not been benefited
by any reduction of fares. The seoond-class
carriages In all of the countries named have
accommodations about equal to those fur
nished in the-elder cars run upon our second
and third. class railroads in this State. The
third class carriages are generally furnished
with nothing but hard wooden seats placed
against straight wooden backs. The rail-
road corporation of the east In France, has,
during the last two or three years, put some
third class carriages into use, which contain
upholstered accommodations for passengers.
In Germany the government provides upon
its railroads fourth class cars, which have no
seats and are no better than our ordinary
freight cars. Some of the principal railroads
run saloon carriages or have saloon COM
partments In the ordinary cars, for which
an extra price is charged. None of these
saloon accommodations, however, are equal
to the drawing room cars run upon the
American railroads. None Of the coaches
used upon the European railroads ride as
easily a. our best cars, for the reason that
most of them have only four wheels under
them, and none of them have more than
eight wheels. The coaches are of
lighter construction, and while the
roadbeds are generally az we'll bal
lasted as the Consolidated road between
New Haven and New York, the effect of the
light construction of the coaches and the
smaller number of wheels, is to make them
vibrate more and to tire the passengers more
In long journey. The rates Of fair for pas
ssngers who ride in hrst class apartments
vary from four to FIVE cents o mile; the
second class fares are generally from two and
Q half to three cents q mile; the third class
fares are about two cents O mile, and the
fourth class faxes in Germany are about one
and Q half cents o mile. In Belgium first
clsse fares are cheaper than anywhere else,
and are only little over two cents Q mile,
but there is an extra charge in that country
for every pound of baggage that 10 carried.
II is fair to say that the rates are general.
ly much higher and the accommodations
poorer than in America. The result Of
governmental control and management in
Germany, Holland and Belgium would satis-
fly any one that it is poor policy for the
public, and II is one which l trust will
never be adopted In this country, to say
nothing Of the objection to having such an
additional army of Office holders created
A few railroads In Germany that are mol
operated by tho State furnish better, newer
and cleaner coaches than those owned by
the several States. The railroad officials
including those at the station, the train con-
ductors and the guards, are always attentive
and polite. The stations are generally bet
ter than those we have in America, with
more ample grounds and approaches about
them. l noticed in Germany especially that
there were illuminated sign-boards at each
end Of the several stations, containing In
large, plain letters the name of the station.
This enabled passengers by night as well as
by day to read the name of the station be-
fore the train stopped:
Are these fine stations that you speak of
old, or newt
The older stations in Europe were gen.
orally better than those put up In this
country, but noticed In several places that
I visited ten years ago, the old stations had
been removed and newer, larger and better
ones had been erected In their places. There
has been union station built at Frankfort,
which accommodates the ak railroads which
center In that large and prosperous city.
This union station must certainly be the
hnest one In the world. It contains under
one glass roof eighteen tracks, with broad
concrete walks at the side of each, so that
In no event is O passenger obliged to walk
across the track. In fact, 1t Is q penal
offense In France and Germany for pre-
sons to walk across the tracks at the stations
If person comes into one Of those uniol
stations and desires to change cars he mus
walk around to the train he desires to take
some instances passengers walk around tn
end, and in others they go over the tracks Of
under them. The union station at Frank
fort has subways under the passengers wall
for the purpose of carrying baggage to an,
| from baggage cars. It contains four eeparat
dining rooms for FIRST and second class pssser
| gers and two for third and fourth elias
| passengers. There are several baggage an,
special parcel rooms, telegraph and telephon
| Offices, four separate parlors for ladies, an,
| at each end of the station there are lavatorie
for men and for women with marble basins
| barber shops and bathrooms. The bathroom
are large and well lighted, and for the sum o
one mark twenty-five oents) a traveller Cal
obtain hot bath. In the main entrance hal
there are eight ticket offices for first and sec
ond-class passengers and six for third ant
fourth-olass passengers. In the establishment
| Of this union station 1t became necessary I,
make several changes in the tracks of tn
different railroads, and all of the old station
| near the center of the city were abandoned
| The total cost of making the changes In tn,
tracks and approaches, acquiring the lane
and erecting the station, was thirty -thre,
| millions Of marks. Wherever 1t Is practica
BILE In the construction Of railroads in Eng
land, Germany and France railroads hav,
not been permitted to cross each other q
grade, and much of the expense of tn
new station at Frankfort grew out of tn
| extraordinary cost of carrying the railroad
over or under each other upon the level plail
which surrounds the city of Frankfort
| Wherever the tracks of different railroads
GROSS each other at grade, interlocking appa
ratus and safety appliances are generally use,
30 that the trains GROSS without stopping, tn
control of the interlockipg apparatus beinl
In the railroad company which uses the CROSS
| ing most frequently.
Are good railroad accommodations furnish
cd for persons who desire to pass through tw'
or three countries without changing carsi
Oh, yes, there are regular express line ar
rangements as with US between all importan
places In Europe, although there are not q
many solid trains run great distances q
with n. italian cars pass through
Switzerland and the Tyrol into Ger
many and France, and vice versa, but new
trains are usually made up at importan
points on the route. There are few inter
national companies which furnish sleeping
cars and dining cars. The most importan
train run by an international company 4
that known as the Orient express, which
runs from Paris to Constantinople, through
Strasburg, Munich, Vienna and Buds Pesth
II stops at but few places, consists OF bu
four or five cars and is run at speed nearly
| equal to that upon the best trains between
New York and Boston. 1t was rather anus
ing to read upon the side of these cars tn
words "Sleeping Car" and Ginning Car" II
the several French, English, German, Hun
garian and Turkish languages. The sleeping
coaches Of this train are built yer!
much like the Mann Boudoir car