Dining Car Sanitation in the United States By WILLIAM H. MEGONNELL, M.S., and EDMUND C. GARTHE, C.E., M.P.H. O NE of the inost striking features about dini- is tantamounit, if it cani be imiagined, to a large ing cars is that while they resemble res- restaurant chain's keeping idle several expen- taurants they are, at the same time, very dis- sive restaurants whiclh are opened for business similar. True, the dining car is simply a special only during occasional rush periods. kind of restaurant-a restaurant on wheels, not The relationship between travel and the differing in other essentials from other estab- spread of disease has been recognized for cen- lislhnments where food is prepared and served. turies. Many hundreds of thousands of people Dining cars and restaurants purchase the same in the United States travel on trains every day. kinds of food and prepare and serve them in About 80 million meals are served in dining cars the same manner, employing the same kinds of each year. Thus, the fundamental rules of food people. However, the one essential difference- service sanitation for preventing the spread mobility-creates problems which are peculiar of disease apply equally to dining cars anid to dining cars. It is one thing to supply and restaurants. operate a stationary restaurant and quite an- Since dining cars are rolling restaurants other to supply and operate a restaurant that which cross State boundaries, their sanitary traverses hundreds of miles of railroad track. control is clearly a Federal responsibility. In- A dining car superintendent lhas to antici- deed, it would be almost impossible to control pate and cope with seasonal peak loads and plan them otherwise. The multiplicity of State and for large special movements of passenger traffic, local lhealth requirements and the variations in such as are associated with military or emer- inspections by different health departments gency activities. Add to this the possibility of would result in intolerable confusion to carrier breakdowns, accidents, and other contingencies, companies. More important, attempts by a and it is apparent that a sizable pool of fully State or local health department to follow equipped cars and trained personnel miiust be through on an inspection or to investigate a kept in reserve for suclh circumstances. This disease outbreak attributed to food or drink consumed on a diner would be so complicated, after the conveyance had traveled into another Mr. Megonnell, senior assistant sanitary engineer, State, that the efforts largely would be futile. Interstate Carrier Section, General Engineering Even negotiations betweein a health department Branch, Division of Sanitary Engineering Services, aind a railroad compainy would be difficult and joined the Public Health Service in July 1951. Mr. complicated if the carrier's headquarters were Garthe is the regional engineer for Region III of the located in another State (1). Service (Washington, D. C.). At the time he was Interstate quarantine authority was given- chief of the former Interstate Carrier Branch, Mr. to the Public Healtlh Service by an act of Garthe coauthored with Howard W. Chapman, the Congress approved February 15,1893 (2). This article "Sanitation Aboard American Flag Vessels," action was taken because of the continued pies- published in Public Health Reports. October 1952, ence of yellow fever duriing the sunmmer montlhs p. 963. in the southern States. It was believed that thle interstate railroads were a big factor in Vol. 70, No. 1, January 1955 25 traiilinsitting the disease fiom one State to tempt to provide food aboard trains was made .mother. in 1862 by the Camden and Amboy Route, which The interstate quarantine regulations, pro- converted a baggage car into a diner for use oln mulgated under the 1893 act and effective its Washington express. The following year, September 27, 1894, were the first concerted at- the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore tempt to deal with the interstate spread of Railroad remodeled two day coaches for service disease. These regulations have been revised as diners between Philadelphia and Baltimore. and amended from time to time, most recently In 1867, George M. Pullman introduced "hotel in 19'1, to take cognizance of new develop- cars," which were sleeping cars equipped with menets in health and technology (3, 4). kitchen and dining facilities. The first full dining car was built by Pullman in 1868 for the Development of Diners Chicago & Alton Railroad (5). Regarded at first as somewhat of a curiosity, In the earliest days of railroading, before dining cars were enthusiastically received by the advent of the diner, passengers had to de- the traveling public, but they did not come into pend largely on their own ingenuity for sus- general use until the late 1800's, no doubt as tenance during a journey. The hardier and a result of the intense railroad competition dur- miore resolute individuals risked the "eat-and- ing that period. Dinner in the diner became as run" umeals available at station stops; the less much a part of the romance of railroading as hardy or more discriminating resorted to carry- the familiar click of the wheel on the track. ing "sloebox" lunches. Both resources had ob- Aks the shoebox lunch gradually disappeared vious disadvantages. The food available at the dining car became the real heartbeat of the many stations in those days was generally stale train and the showcase of the railroads. and unsavory, while cleanliness and sanitation Although the Public Health Service was were questionable, at best. Lack of refrigera- charged with the control of sanitation on dining tion and the presence of dust, soot, and insects cars, other important duties and budgetary and often destroyed the appetite-and sometimes personnel limitations made an aggressive pro- the health-of those who carried their lunches. gram impossible. So for many years govern- The remaining choice, which many passengers mental inspection and supervision of sanitation took, was to go hungry (5). oni dining cars were sporadic. All commis- Eastern railroads improved the intolerable sioned officers of the Service were under orders situation by better surveillance and supervision to inspect dining cars while en route on trains of existing establishments. In the west the on official business; occasionally, surveys of en- problem was more basic than amelioration be- tire roads or of all dining cars entering a rail- cause there were few restaurants of any sort. road center were conducted as the result of a However, in 1876, a young railroader with the complaint; but there was no continued, routine firm conviction that the traveling public would program for such work. appreciate and generously reward anyone who However, from the beginning the railroads began the reformation of the lowly railroad set high standards for their dining car service. eating house established the first of what were Gleaming tableware, spotless linen, immaculate destined to become famous station restaurants and courteous waiters, gracious stewards, and (6). Some of these exist today. His high tasteful decor-all of these contributed to the standards of cleanliness, excellent cuisine, ef- dining car's unique atmosphere. ficiency, and service developed into an art which became the model for such establishments and The War Emergency doubtless influenced the quality of railroad dining service. During and immediately after World War II, Technological progress of the railroads and uncontrollable emergency conditions precluded demands of the speed-conscious public who ob- the exactitude formerly devoted to the comfort jected to meal stops made inevitable some form of the traveling public. Warworkers and serv- of food service en route. The first recorded at- icemen were oni the move, often with their fami- 26 Public Health Reports lies, travelinig fronm onie sectioni of the counltry to another on an unprecedented scale. The heavy increase in wartime rail travel came when railroads were unable to purchase new equip- ment. At the same time well-trained em- ployees were off to war or to more lucrative jobs, forcing dining service managers to employ large numbers of untrained personnel. This Nation could ill afford to waste mani- power sick abed-or buried-as a result of foodborne or other disease. The increased significance of the Public Health Service's re- sponsibility to prevent the interstate spread of disease during the war emergency led to a major intensification of its railroad sanitation pro- gram. A large portion of the country at war was eating from the dining car's "hands," and Courtesy Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Co. these "hands" had to be kept clean. One of the first Pullman "hotel" cars-i867. As one of the first steps in discharging its in- creased responsibility, the Public Health Serv- of old ones which had been so overworked dur- ice in 1942 prepared the "Sanitation Manual for ing the war. It had long been recognized that Ljand and Air Conveyances Operating in Inter- the plant where a conveyance is built or rebuilt state Traffic" (7) to provide public health and is one of the best health control points. Placing railroad workers with necessary information greater emphasis on construction, Service per- upon which to base their activities under the sonnel began to furnish consultative and inspec- interstate quarantine regulations. tional services to designers and builders of Mobile bacteriological laboratories of the railroad passenger cars. Service toured the country. As part of their One large companiy, in 1944, requested advice duties the laboratory staffs examined milk and in designing new equipment and rehabilitating water supplies used aboard dining cars and old cars. Thus was born the Service's plan- made swab tests of eating and drinking utensils review program, under which plans for con- to ascertain the adequacy of dishwashing and struction or major repair of conveyances are sanitizing methods aboard conveyances.