HOTELS ON WHEELS

Evening Star, Issue 21232, 13 October 1932, Page 11

HOTELS ON WHEELS

MODERN RAILWAY COMFORTS SHOWER BATHS AMD COCKTAILS Hotels on wheels, covering the country at record speeds. This is a vision of British train services of the immediate future. It was announced recently that the Loudon, Midland, and Scottish Railway Company’s experimental ‘‘ cafeteria, car, in which refreshments are obtainable on the “ help yourself” system, is to become part of the regular service between Leeds and Manchester. This follows the introduction of cocktail bars and buffets on the main London and North-eastern lines and similar experiments on other railways. There is every prospect that these and other facilities will be extended to every main line train in the near future, making the British railway train the most comfortable in the world. Among the amenities at present to be enjoyed on numbers of the principal train services are:—Shower baths, women’s retiring rooms, nurseries, wireless and radio, gramophone programmes, electrically-cooked food, bars and cocktail lounges. These are being extended almost daily, while still other facilities are under consideration or experiment. Meanwhile, the process of speeding up services is continuing on every line in the country. Simultaneously, efforts are being made to increase the of ordinary compartments and sleeping cars. Restaurant cars on the London and North-eastern Railway are being decorated in late eighteenth-century style; third class coaches are being provided with arm rests and six seats to the compartment; and sleeping cars are being fitted with controlled ventilation, whereby the passenger can adjust the temperature of the air to suit his own requirements, and with electricallyheated water. Where will it stop? One railway official expresses the opinion that the process of modernisation has hardly begun. “We are experimenting all the time,” he added, “and constantly seeking means of improving comforts and speeds. We want to make the train approximate as nearly as possible to the luxury hotel without in any way impairing its efficiency.”