New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1890-10-29
ENGLISH RAILROAD CARS.
The Inconyeniences and st I'll less OF the ssconi-
partments' ii Them.

l The Inconyeniences and st i'll ,ess OF the ssCom-
partments, ii Them.
Those Americans who go abroad to
discover the shortcomings of Europe
and e&aggerate their own satisfaction
with everything American, are always
| happiest when they are describing an
| English, French or German railro d.
They are half wrong, as bigots usu-
ally are; but then, again they are half
right, The truest comparison ana fair
est statement Of the facts concerning
| English and tln.e:ican railroads is that
if they had our cars and we had their
loading in perfection.
1 In order to present the completest
picture to the American reader, let him
or her imagine Il summer horse car
with the sides boarded up -oae Of those
horse cars we New Workers ride upon
Third avenue in, with cross seats fac
ing one another in pairs Let him i'm
,agine the back Of every alternate seat
carried up to the ceiling. That would
divide the car into three or four boxes.
/ Then put a WindoW at the end of each
/ seat. and door at each end of each
| passage. The windows must be tight
and immovable, but there must be a
sliding window in eyesy door, TO hoist
up and down by m .ans OF a abroad
leather strap. worn black and soft by
handling. Now mark s'Third G .ss'
on the boxes that re over h, heels
at either end of The car, a d pa n
'Flrst Class on the toxes between
the wheels in the midd e Of the
| Cushion the first elias; seats, a pad
their backs as, high as ones head; then
| carpet the third-class seats, and nail
| carpet on their backs, and you haze
turned an open horse-car in;o an Eng
| lish railway carriage.
There is a narrow boaru on each
| side OF the hor5e-car Tor I'll e con-
ductor to walk upon. and that is there
also on the English car; but the Eng
| lish railroad car is boarled up at
either end, whereas the Am ,rican
horse-car is glazed.
| Now let the American Til TX of all
! the comforts aud conveniences there
are in our railroad co &c les-the toilet
stand. the closet. the he ting appara-
tus, the drinking water cylinder. Not
one OF these is in an E lgli,h railroad
car-not one. All those tn ngs are at
the station not in the cars. In the
English cars there is an Intellectual
and timid light, half concealed above
d thick convex glass in the roof of
each compartment, and there is
rack over each seat. This is the fact
| whether you ride tirst-class or second
| class. In some Of the cars there is a
map OF the railroad over one bench,
and an advertisement of the railro ad'
hotels facing it, in each impairment.
| The map strikes me as u most excel
| lent idea. There is also posted in
| each compartment d statement of the
number Of persons 1T is designed to
accommodate. ''This compartment is
| for ten persons was always posted in
| the thlrd-class and second class COM
partments; ia the tirst-class ones the
seats are divided by padded arms to
| accommodate three persons each, or
| six to the compartment. That is a
European custom. Even on shipboard
on your way to Europe you will notice,
cast in the iron door frame of every
| room aboard the vessel. a statement
of the number of sailors or passengers
or stewards or stokerS that may
| inhabit each compartment