NO MORE COMPARTMENTS?
SIR,—It is stated that British Railways in their programme of new carriages are now ceasing to build coaches with compartments for second-class passengers. Open saloons are officially preferred simply because more people can be got into them. Yet, an Englishman who still likes to go by rail is entitled to ask whether there has ever been any mode of travel quite so comfortable and civilised as that in a closed compartment? Surely, on long-distance trains, and especially for non-smokers, a number of these ought to, be retained? Some of us would not object if an extra charge were made for non-smoking compartments.
Or, is it that the railway commissars today prefer to see the proletariat crowded into less space at all costs? For my part, with everyone's luggage and bundles piled in front of me on a beastly little table past which I can scarcely squeeze my legs, I always feel (if I have to be packed into one of these saloons) more like an unwanted refugee than a normal person who has paid his fare. And there must be thousands who will also be very sorry if compartments are entirely withdrawn from service.—Yours faithfully, 81 Micklegate, York
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