Opinion & Answer XII: Ambulance Trains
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| Great Western Railroad Ambulance Trains |
Before I start this post, I want to share THREE IMPORTANT notes before I talk about ambulance trains. Please respect & honor these three important messages below while reading this Opinion & Answer Post. Links will be down below to read further on the subject.
- This post like all the others (O&A Posts 1-11) are my own thoughts and answers. &
- I'm not an historian, I just research to learn more and choose to share my thoughts. & finally
- I thanks all those veterans who have served and gave their life for freedom & medical volunteers that went above and beyond to work on all the ambulance trains (that ran) and hospitals during the wars to help treat the sick and those who dealt with difficult medical issues.
With that out of the way, on talking about ambulance trains. Thank you all & enjoy
Author Conductor Wolf
When did ambulance trains do their service?
Ambulance trains started running all the way back to the American Civil War in 1861 and lasted till the end of the war in 1865 where they used makeshift box cars to haul the sick & injured by relief organizations. After 1865 the ambulance trains faded into history and were not seen again until 1898 during the Spanish-American war. In the Spanish-American war, a line of pullmen tourist rail cars were used before fading into history once again after the year was over and not been seen for a long time until the big first world war. The year was 1914 and the ambulance trains were called to service once again which led to custom built and leasing passengers and unit cars being used until the end of WWI in 1918. After World War I was over in 1918, the ambulance trains had faded away for 20 years, not to be used again until 1939 where the world once again went to war in World War II. For six sad years, (1939-1945), there were long lines of ambulance trains going up and down the rails across the world during many of the deadliest conflicts. On top of the long ambulance trains, additional leased sleepers and chairs cars were called into service to help with moving the sick and injured soldiers. After 1945, many of the ambulance trains'cars were faded into history by being converted back into passengers and dining cars and were sold. Since WWII ending at this time, ambulance trains were once again not seen for four years until getting the call for the final time (according to my research) to assist in the Korean War between 1950-1953. The ambulance rail cars that were not converted or sold were sent to Korea with replacements being ordered. After 1953, the ambulance train's replacement cars were either sold,stored or never used.
What war did the ambulance trains do their most service for?
In my view, I would say World War II did see the most use for the ambulance trains especially on the homeland of Great Britain at the dock of Southampton during WWII. Before WWII, the British government, had planned how they were handling the amount of injured soldiers.
For more info on this click this link => UK Ambulance Trains (its an interesting story to learn & Read)
How many wars were ambulance trains called to Serve?
According to research, ambulance trains were called to serve in 5 wars. Ranging from the earliest in 1861 (Start of American Civil War) to the end of the last war they served in 1953 (End of the Korean War)
- American Civil War (1861-1865)
- The Spanish-American War (1898)
- World War I (1914-1918)
- World War II (1939-1945)
- Korean War (1950-1953)
Ambulance Train's service: Shortest & 2nd Shortest wartime
The shortest war to see the use of Ambulance Trains was The Spanish-American War in 1898. The second shortest wartime to see ambulance trains was the Korean War between 1950-1953.
- Spanish-American War - 1 year (1898)
- Korean War- 3 years (1950-1953)
Ambulance Train service: Longest & Second Longest wartime
The longest war service was 6 years of World War II with two 4 year spans in the American Civil War & again in World War I.
- World War II- 6 years (1939-1945)
- American Civil War- 4 years (1861-1865)
- World War I- 4 years (1914-1918)
Hope you all enjoy this mini trip into history between wars & Ambulance Trains.
See you next time.
Conductor Wolf
Links used in research:
