GC1-1111711 CarS. —On German roads, the carriages of the second class are comfortably upholstered, provided with floor-coverings, racks for holding parcels, etc., and are warmed in cold weather, and otherwise made so com fortable to the traveller that only a comparatively small proportion of the pub lic travel by first-class conveyance. In England, on the other hand, until within ten years or so, the second-class carriap.-,es were destitute of uphol stering- and offered about the same conveniences as the German third-class carriages. Of late years English cars have been notably improved. The first-class carriag,re of the German railway differs from the second-class chiefly in being more roomy and more expensively fitted up and cushioned. On the French, Belgian, and English roads, as a rule, the first-class car riages are the only ones that afford proper conveniences for the comfort of the better class of the travelling public.
recent introduction of the American palace- or parlor cars (fi/. 32, figs. 4, 6; pi. 33, figs. 1, 3), the luxurious fitting-s and easy riding of which are much superior to those of the compartment carriages, has doubtless had much to do with raising the standard of comfortable rail WaV travel in most European countries. The g,reat distances covered by American railway lines have rendered it desirable to make special provision for the comfort and convenience of the travelling public, and this fact explains the origin and development of these luxuriously-appointed con veyances, with which all the important lines of railways in the United States are at present provided, and which make railway travelling in this country not simply endurable, but enjoyable. The modern American parlor-cars of Pullman (fi/. 32, fig. 4), Woodruff, Wagner, Mann, and other builders whose names are familiar to the American travelling- public, with their elaborate conveniences for comfortable travelling and for sleeping and eating en route (pl. 3o, figs. 17, iS; fil. 33, figs. are so far in advance of the practice of other countries that no comparison is possible.
As an instructive illustration typical of the best practice attained in the passenger service of American railways, reference is made to Plate 32 (figs. which gives an excellent impression of the appearance of a locomo tive and the cars of a train of the best class as represented by the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad. One of the latest improvements is the " ves tibule car " (fig. 6). In this the ends of the cars are coupled in such man ner that the passageway from one to another is entirely enclosed, the pro jecting portion of the connection being made flexible, to adapt itself to the swinging of the cars around curves, etc. These vestibuled cars have lately
come into use upon through trains for fast passenger-service.
heating the passenger-cars various plans are in vog,ue. These comprise the use of stoves, hot-water cylinders, specially prepared slow-burning wood-charcoal in sheet-metal cases placed under the seats, various systems of steam-circulation, etc. Where stoves are used, as is the custom on American railways, they are either placed at the ends of the car or suspended beneath the under-frame. The stoves are jacketted, leaving an annular space between the inner and outer shells. A pipe capped with a valved cowl communicates with this air-space and automatically adjusts itself so as to induce a constant current of air. This, being- heated on its passage through the air-space of the stove, is distributed by pipes or other channels carried along the sides of the car and furnished with openings at proper intervals. The escape of the heated air inaS. be provided for by a cowl placed on top of the car, which automatically sets its flaring month in a direction opposite to that in which the car is moving, or by adjustable ventilating, panels of glass placed along the upper part of the car beneath a raised central section of the roof, and by other simple artifices. Heaters constructed substantially on the same principle as stoves and designed to effect the warming- of the train by a connected system of bot-air pipes have been devised, but have not come into general Ilse.
The much greater distances traversed by American railroads, and the greater severity of the American \vinters as compared with European climatic conditions, make the problem of heating the passenger-trains of much greater importance. The employment of stoves for this service has the grave objection of danger from fire in the event of an accident by which the cars may be overturned and the passengers imprisoned. The recent occurrence of several distressing accidents on American railways, in which the lives of many passengers have been destroyed by fire comninnicated to the woodwork from the car stoves, has caused the enactment of laws by the legislatures of several States forbidding the use of stoves for car-heating. The result has been that many plans for employing steam for train-heating have been tried, with varying success. Thus far, however, no system has been devised that entirely meets the requirements of practice.