A QUICK LOOK
Hospital Cars Rode the Rails
by Larry K. Neal Jr.*
uring World War
П,
the US- Army had a series
of railroad passenger cars built to carry wound-
„ed soldiers from hospital ships to military hospi¬
tals across the United States. Instead of regular
seats or sleeping rooms, these cars used bunKs to
transport the troops. The bunKs allowed easier loading and
unloading of litters, or stretchers. The history of these cars,
though, actually begins during the American Civil War.
Many consider the Civil War the first modern war. because
of weapon and technology advancements. As battle casualties
mounted, U-S- Army leaders {ooKed for better ways to move
injured soldiers to area hospitals. Hospital cars were construct¬
ed from existing railroad passenger cars, with bunKs replacing
seats. Because of rough tracKs and poor construction meth¬
ods, the ride in these hospital cars included plenty of jolting
and jostling, causing more pain to the wounded soldiers. The
hospital cars operated as part of dedicated trains, complete
with a boxcar to provide meals.
During World War I, the unit car ms developed.
This car contained a Kitchen and a ward section for patients.
Most of these cars operated overseas, moving wounded sol¬
diers from the battlefield to hospital ships headed
Ьаск
to the
United States. These cars operated in hospital trains staffed
by American “Red Cross doctors and nurses.
At the beginning of World Wrar n, the fj.£. Army had three
types of hospital cars: ward cars, ward dressing cars (which
included a small surgery area), and Kitchen cars able to feed up
to 500 people. These cars operated out of New YorK, New
YorK; Hampton 'Roads, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina;
New Orleans, Louisiana; and San Francisco, California. The
trains operated as one unit, with hospital cars moving from
port to hospital. The train out of Hampton "Reads often ran
through North Carolina on its way to hospitals in Tennessee.
Walter Freeze, a veteran from China Grove, remembers
riding the hospital train from Hampton "Roads
through North Carolina to a hospital in
Memphis, Tennessee, during 2995. freeze was
wounded in Europe, treated, and placed on a
hospital ship bound for the United States,
then onto a hospital train operated by the
2329th Service Command Unit, Third Service
Command Casualty Trains. Freeze could see
his hometown from the train, but he was not
allowed to leave the train to see his family and
friends. He later returned to China Grove,
where he lives today.
The surgeon general in charge of the U-S-
Army Medical Department wanted a return to
the unit car design used during World War }.
( Above and below) The exterior of Ihe U S. Army Hospital Unit Car at the North
Carolina Transportation Museum was restored in 1996, and the interior was
completed in November 2007, due in part to a North American Railway
Foundation grant Museum volunteers led by Jeanne Morse did most of the
restoration work John Bechtel, master mechanic for the museum, helped com¬
plete it. Images courtesy of the North Carolina Transportation Museum.
This style of car could handle the 30,000 wounded soldiers pro¬
jected to return to the United Spates each month in 2999 and
1945- Officials developed a new design in 2993, authorized it in
29W, and built it in 2995. Each of these new hospital unit cars
included a fun Kitchen, a receiving area with side doors facing
each other, a pharmacy area, room for 36 patients (including a
six-bunK mental ward), two small rooms for doctors and nurses,
a bathroom, and a sterilization room for medical instruments.
The first order for one hundred cars was placed in late 2999,
with delivery in early 2995. Another order of a hundred cars,
numbered 89900-89999, was delivered between May and August
2995. The North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer
has US- Army Hospital Unit Car 89980 on display in its "Robert
Julian "Roundhouse.
The military used hospital railroad cars again during the
Korean War, between 2950 and 2952. Several were used in hospi¬
tal train service out of the Korean port of Pusan. The car cur¬
rently displayed at the museum may have been
part of this service, because it has tie-down
rings underneath it that would be used to
secure it to ships.
The army surpiused and sold all the hospital
cars during the 2970s. The North Carolina
Transportation Museum got its car in 2980
with the help of Dr. D- E- Ward and the North
Carolina Medical Society, which helped raise
money to buy it from Mutual Distributing
Company of "Raleigh. The museum and its foun¬
dation are proud to open to the public one of
the few restored U-S- Army Hospital Cars—
preserving a part of World War
Ц
history vital
to the welfare of returning American troops.
‘Larry K. Neal Jr. is the manager of visitor sendees at the North Carolina
Transportation Museum in Spencer. To learn more about the museum and its
offerings, access ivww.nctrans.org.
THJH, Spring 2008
29
