Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/165

 drawing water into them from a tap. At the large stations there are sheds specially provided for carriage washing, having wooden stages the height of the carriage floors, alongside each line of rails, with wrought-iron troughs running the whole length of the stages, which by the ball-valve arrangement are kept constantly full of water. Periodically, of course, the outsides of the carriages require something beyond the simple washing with water, and have to be thoroughly scoured with soap or some cleansing composition. The equipment of each "washer" consists of a bucket, a long-handled brush, with which he can reach from the ballast, if need be, the tops of the carriages, and a small spoke-brush for getting into corners, etc.

Cleaning.—The "cleaners," of whom a large number are employed, attend to the insides of the carriages. They are provided with a bass broom, a hard hand-brush, and a soft one, a wash leather and a linen duster. They are expected to shake each carpet, well brush the linings and cushions, clean the windows, and finally to dust the whole carriage throughout.

Heating of Carriages.—During the cold weather, that is to say generally from the 1st November to the 31st March in each year, every compartment of each class is supplied with at least two foot-warmers. The ordinary foot-warmer is an oblong tin, filled with water through an orifice which is then hermetically sealed, and the warmer is placed in a boiler until the water is heated. A patent foot-warmer has, however, been introduced, and is now in use on all the main lines, in which the water is replaced by acetate of soda. The utilisation of crystalised acetate of soda for this purpose is of comparatively recent introduction, the advantage consisting in the