Leaning out of the open windows of
early British trains
Open window in a typical 1940s train door. The window
was raised and lowered with a leather strap and held in position by locking
one of the holes in the strap over a metal stud. Photo taken in the dining
car of the Steam Museum at Swindon, The green walls were due to the
whole carriage being the dining car. Normal
compartments had non-descript
colour walls.
What I remember particularly about travelling by train in the 1940s and
1950s were
the windows in the doors. They had probably changed little since the early days of the
railways, but that of course was outside my personal experience.
'Health and safety regulations' had not been dreamed up,
and the windows in the train doors opened so that passengers could lean out.
This they did, particularly when waving goodbye
to people seeing them off.
Waving goodbye through an open train window in the 1940s. Enhanced
detail of a screenshot from an old film.
There were notices pointing out that it was dangerous to lean out of the
window while the train was moving, but it didn't stop anyone.
Leaning out of a train window
of a moving train was a particularly enjoyable
experience for children: to feel the wind rushing into one's face and through
one's hair and to see the engine
belching out smoke as the train rounded a bend.
Passengers leaning out of train windows. Enhanced detail
of photo in the Steam Museum at Swindon.
A particular problem with leaning out of a train window was the smoke from the
steam engine which was pulling the train. It was sooty from the partly burnt
coal: it got into eyes and made faces black. So children were encouraged to
'stay inside' when out visiting; otherwise there was a quick lick and a promise
from mother's handkerchief.
Irrespective of whether anyone was leaning out of the window, it was not always easy to
get agreement among the passengers about how far the window should be pulled
down. It could be far too draughty for passengers sitting facing the
direction of travel, but not for the passengers facing them.
The stream of sooty smoke from the engine of a steam train. As the train rounded a bend, it was fascinating to watch it from an open window, snaking through the countryside. Enhanced detail of photo in the Steam Museum at Swindon
In the first half of the 1940s I suppose there must have been mesh stuck
onto the train windows against the bomb blasts of World War Two, but perhaps this was only done for
trains based in London. I only remember it for the London Underground. Either way, any mesh
was probably removed as soon as possible after the war ended, because it was
so unpleasant being unable to see out of the windows.
