In parts of the world, the COVID-19 virus has revived the use of ambulance trains. But hospitals built & run by railroads remain a thing of the past. According to news reports:
In India, rail passenger cars are being repurposed into makeshift hospitals. Plans call for railway shops in the country’s ten railway zones to convert 10 cars a week. Regular passenger service remains suspended so the rail system can deliver emergency food & supplies across India. In France, high speed trains adapted as mobile hospitals are shuttling virus patients from hard hit regions to hospitals elsewhere with more capacity to ease the stress on resources. However, nothing special is being asked of American railroads. Amtrak has canceled its high speed Acela train and cut service elsewhere. Indeed, to stay afloat, Amtrak is to receive a federal stimulus bailout of $1 billion. US railroads are increasingly putting idled running stock in storage. Origins of Ambulance Trains Makeshift ambulance trains first appeared during the Civil War and were used by both sides. They were not needed again until WWI. Twenty years later, with WWII, the Army had to start from scratch. Ambulance trains next found use during the Korean war. By this war’s end, ambulance trains were made obsolete with wounded being evacuated by specially fitted helicopters & transport aircraft. Railroad Hospitals and Clinics In the late 19th & early 20th century many Class I railroads had their own hospitals, which were responsible for many advances in medical treatment. Railroad wrecks and work were hazardous, and medical facilities and care in scarce supply, especially in the western and southwestern reaches of the US where numerous railroad emergency clinics sprung up. The majority of major railroad hospitals appeared west of the Mississippi, with a handful in the east. At their peak, about 35 big railroad hospitals existed. Still standing ones, now repurposed for other use, include the Frisco & Missouri Pacific in St. Louis; the Southern Pacific in Houston and San Francisco; the Western Pacific in Portola, California and the Illinois Central in Chicago. Railroad hospitals developed trauma surgery and specialty care. They pioneered many methods of examination and treatment now common place in occupational and emergency medicine. Because of them, we have vision & hearing testing standards. And Johnson & Johnson came up with first aid kits that were first deployed on railroads. Chesapeake & Ohio Hospitals The C&O Railway had two major hospitals: Clifton Forge, Virginia (1897-1976) & Huntington, West Virginia (1900- 1971). They operated under the auspices of the C&O Employees Hospital Association (COEHA). C&O employees and retirees paid monthly dues and got free rail travel passes to their hospital. The system worked well for decades, but faced two problems by the 1960’s: the death of C&O passenger service and the increased availability of other health care—especially with the advent of Medicare in 1965. Today both hospitals have been repurposed. But the COEHA lives after 123 years. Today, it helps members navigate the Medicare system and oversees two Medicare supplement plans of its own. The Clifton Forge hospital merged in 1976 with a private hospital in near by Covington to become the Allegheny Regional Hospital System. The C&O hospital started out in 1897 with one doctor, five nurses, & 50 beds located in the Gladys Inn in Clifton Forge. Norfolk & Western Hospitals Sources claim N&W hospitals existed in Norfolk & Roanoke, but this story’s author found no information to flesh out these claims, which still may be true. However, he discovered a wealthy benefactor of the Roanoke Hospital who served as the superintendent of N&W’s Eastern Division from 1890- 1895. This was David Flickwir, a railroad construction engineer & contractor. After leaving N&W, he built the famous Tunkhannock Viaduct and other projects for the Delaware, Lackanna, & Western Railroad. In the 1920’s, he funded expansions of the Roanoke Hospital and its nursing residences.
1 Comment
Frank Bellinetti
9/18/2021 02:36:25 pm
Hospital trains
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PCRCThe Page County Railroad Club has a wealth of railroad information shared between it's members. In this blog we will do our best to share that knowledge. Archives
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