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Stations, Junctions, etc
Engine Sheds
Other
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Miscellaneous: Operating Equipment & Practices
Ambulance Trains: misc_equip248
Two more publicity photographs showing the inside of
Continental Ambulance Train No 18 (see also 'misc_equip246'). On the left is a
photograph of the treatment room in the Pharmacy Coach. The floor and lower
half of the wall was lined in lead to make it easier to disinfect. On the right
is one of the kitchen areas with centrally placed oven, multiple sinks and
storage units.
Although these publicity photographs show a clean and well
equipped ambulance train, the realities of operating these trains during the
conflict can be imagined when looking at the statistics. For example, between
August 1915 and January 1919, one of the trains built by the Great Western
Railway (Continental Ambulance Train No 16) had carried a total of 157,562
patients. Their busiest day was during the Battle of Arras (between 9th April
and 16th May 1917), when the British and Empire troops suffered over 150,000
casualties during a series of offenses designed as a diversionary attack to
relieve pressure on the French Army. On 3rd May, it is recorded that
Continental Ambulance Train No 16 carried 824 wounded patients, when the train
was designed to carry around 450 patients. Such overcrowding was not unusual,
another nurse on Continental Ambulance Train No 15 (see 'misc_brc&wc142') reported that; 'Patients
laying everywhere in the grounds of the clearing station, the walking wounded
were in hundreds and were fighting to get on the train, they had to be kept
back by a guard to enable the bearers to get the more serious cases on the
train.'
For more details of Ambulance Trains see 'misc/ambulance'.
Robert Ferris
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