# Shower train

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Shower_train
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Shower_train.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shower_train
> Source revision: 1282491494
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Trains providing bathing facilities}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
'''Shower trains''' or '''bathing trains''' were specialized [train](/source/train)s or [train car](/source/train_car)s used throughout Europe to provide mobile bathing facilities to troops stationed along the battlefront during the [First World War](/source/First_World_War), as well as to civilians to combat epidemics in the early 20th century.

==World War I==
thumbnail|left|The Swiss army shower train at a station.
thumbnail|right|Shower room in a Swiss train.
===Switzerland===
Shower trains (known as '''''Armeebadezug''''') were used in [Switzerland](/source/Switzerland). Each train consisted of old [rolling stock](/source/rolling_stock) from private railway companies: a [locomotive](/source/locomotive), a [tank car](/source/tank_car) and converted [passenger cars](/source/Passenger_car_(rail)), each with a shower room and two [cloakroom](/source/cloakroom)s. The water was taken from the tank car and heated by the locomotive.

This train served the thousands of [Swiss militia](/source/Swiss_Armed_Forces) protecting Switzerland's borders.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.drehscheibe-foren.de/foren/read.php?17,6339279|title= 04 - Historische Bahn|last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date=2013-03-24 |website=Drehscheibe Online |publisher= |language=German |trans-title=04 - Historic Path |accessdate=8 December 2013}}</ref>

=== Imperial Russia ===
Similar bathing trains were used in the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire) by the [Red Cross](/source/Red_Cross) between 1914 and 1917.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b69331711.r=train-bains.langEN|title= Inauguration d'un train-bain à Petrograd [novembre 1914 ?] : [photographie de presse] / [Agence Rol] |last1= |first1= |last2= |first2= |date= |website=BNF Gallica|publisher= |language=French |trans-title=Opening ceremony of a bath train at Petrograd [November 1914?]: [Photography of the press] / [King Agency] |accessdate=8 December 2013}}</ref><ref name="Cherkasov2016">{{cite journal |last1=Cherkasov |first1=Aleksandr A. |last2=Metreveli |first2=Roin V. |last3=Smigel |first3=Mikhal |last4=Molchanova |first4=Violetta S. |title=Characteristics of the Russian Society of the Red Cross on the Caucasus Front (1914-1917) |journal=Terra Sebus |date=2016 |volume=8 |pages=322–323 |url=https://www.cclbsebes.ro/docs/Sebus_8_2016/14_AA_Cherkasov%20et%20alii.pdf |access-date=26 March 2025}}</ref>

==Public sanitation==
Beginning in 1919, following the model set by their military use, shower trains were used in Eastern Europe to combat a widespread louse-born [typhus](/source/typhus) epidemic. The disease had been endemic in Eastern Europe, but became widespread during and following World War I. The first train was deployed in early 1919. On this train, a disinfection car—a repurposed refrigeration unit—was situated directy behind the locomotive. Clothes were steamed in high temperatures to kill parasites and their eggs. The next three cars were repurposed passenger wagons and consisted of an undressing room, the shower car, and a redressing room. A one-way system was put in place to reduce the risk of recontamination. At the rear were cars for soiled clothing, a laundry, and a seamstress station and living quarters.<ref name="Mieszkowski2021">{{cite journal |last1=Mieszkowski |first1=Łukasz |title=Pociągi dezynfekcji. Walka z wszami na polskich kolejach w latach 1918–1920 |journal=Historical Review/Przeglad Historyczny |date=2021 |volume=112 |issue=4 |url=https://przegladhistoryczny.uw.edu.pl/wp-content/uploads/sites/213/2024/02/mieszkowski.pdf |access-date=26 March 2025 |trans-title=Disinfection Trains: Fighting Lice on Polish Railways, 1918–1920 |language=Polish |issn=0033-2186}}</ref>{{rp|pp=872–873}}

{{clear left}}

== References ==
{{Commons category|Switzerland in World War I (shower-train)}}
{{Reflist}}

{{World War I}}

Category:Transport in World War I
Category:Trains
Category:Bathing
Category:History of water supply and sanitation
Category:Military equipment of World War I

{{loco-stub}}
{{WWI-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Shower train](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shower_train) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shower_train?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.