ARMY BATH-TRAINS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 107, 12 November 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

ARMY BATH-TRAINS.

A railway train which can not only accommodate 3,000 soldiers with a daily bath but also provides for the Serving of refreshments, dressing, and disinfection of clothing, forms part of the equipment of the Russian army. The bath is a great institution in Russia, and even the smallest cottage has its little banja, or steam bath-house, where the people get their steam-bath. It is this national custom which has led, during the present war, to the construction of several movable banjas, or bath-trains, for the Russian Army. Each train consist of a locomotive and a score of cars, panelled with felt, cork, and wood, to keep them warm, and joined with warm vestibule bellows, which make it possible for the soldiers to pass from the undressingcar to the bathroom, and then to the dressing-car. The bathrooms are provided with hot water from the locomotive boiler, and in the train there are two tank cars holding water sufficient for 24 hours' work. Each car can aceSinmodate 48 soldiers, who, after, having their hair cut, pass to the washing-car, where they can bathe to their hearts' content. In the meqptime, their clothes and linen have been taken charge of by an attendant, who passes them to the special disinfectant compartment, and the soldier, reaching the dressing-car, finds on his numbered seat a bag with a set of clean linen, and his clothes cleaned, mended, and disinfected. And when he is dressed he can pass to the next car, where he can get tea, sugar, tobacco, etc. These bath-trains cost between £6,000 and £B,OOO, and they have proved so useful that others are being constructed as rapidly as possible.