HOSPITAL TRAINS

These long military medical trains were first developed in the 1850s and reached the zenith of their effectiveness during World War I

While hospital trains can also have civilian purposes, since their advent they have mostly been used by armed forces around the world, W to treat wounded and ill military personnel. Their use stretches back almost as far as the introduction of military railways and were first used during the Crimean War (1853-56).

Opened in 1855, the Grand Crimean Central Railway was built by the British to initially supply ammunition and provisions to Allied soldiers fighting the Russians at the Siege of Sevastopol. It eventually stretched to 23km in length between Sevastopol and the British military headquarters at Balaklava. A major factor in the Allied success during the siege, the railway was mostly horse-drawn, and from April 1855 the British soon realised they could use empty trains to take injured and sick soldiers away from the front lines. The rolling stock was unsuitable and unhygienic from carrying supplies but nevertheless the railway was effectively the first to use hospital trains.