The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-11-14
ENGLISH RAILROADS. 1.
Tho Cars Used by Them Do Not Compar
FnvorablY with American Conchcs.


Fnvorabiy with American Coachcs.
Those Americans who go abroad to
discover the shortcomingsof Europe and
to exaggerate their own satisfaction
with every thing American are always
happiest when they are describing an
English, French or German railroad.
They are half wrong, as bigots usually
are; but then, again, they are half
right. The truest comparison and fair
est statement of the facts concerning
English and American railroads is that
If they had our cars and we had their
roads, both countries would enjoy rail-
reading in perfection.
In order to present the completest
picture to the American reader, let him
or her imagine summer horse car with
the sides boarded up-one of those horse
cars we Now Yorkors ride upon Third
avenue i'll, with cross seats facing ono
another in pairs. Lot him imagine the
back of every alternate seat carried up
to the ceiling. That would divide the
car into three or four boxes. Then put
window at each end of each seat, and
door at each end Of each passage. Tho
window must be tight and immovablc,
but there must be q sliding window in
every door, to hoist UP and down by
means of p broad leather strap, worn
black and soft by handling. Now mark
Third Class" Oh tho boxes that
arc ovor tho wheels at either end of
tho car, and paint "First Class" on the
boxes between the wheels in tho middle
of the car. Cushion the iirst-class seats,
and pad their backs as high as ones
head: then carpet tho third class seats,
and nail carpets on their backs, and you
have turned an open horse-car into
an English railway carriage. There
is narrow board on each side of the
horse-car for the conductor to walk upon,
and that is there also on the English
car; but the English railroad car is
boarded up at either end, whereas tho
American horse-car is glazed.
Now let tho American think of all the
comforts and convenionces there are in
our railroad coaches = tho toilet stand,
tho closet, the heating apparatus, the
drinking-water cylinder. Not one OF
these is in an English railroad car-not
one. All those things are at the station,
not in the cars. In the English cars
there is an Intellectual and timid light,
hoii COHSChlSQ aDON6 u lulCk convex
glass in the. roof of each compartment,
and there is rack over each seat. This
is the fact whether you ride first class
or third class. In some of the cars there
is map OF the railroad over ono
branch, and an advertisement of the
railroad hotels facing it, in each COM
rartment. The map strikes me as 4
most excellent idea. There is also
posted in each compartment statement
of tho number of persons it is designed
to accommodate. This compartment is
for ten persons" was always posted in
the third-class and sccond-class com
partments; in the first-class ones tho
seats are divided by padded arms to ac-
comodate three persons each, or six to
the compartment. That is 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, q statement of the number
of sailors or passengers or stewards or
stokers that may inhabt each apart
lnent Julian Ralph, i'll Harpcr's
Weekly.