Ambulances

I was researching something else, and hit these references to large rail ambulances in India. I don't have any photo links available yet.

Several self-propelled Medical Relief Trains are also in use; these use two Cummins 375 hp [280 kW] underfloor diesel engines. They are used for accident relief operations. The transmission is hydraulic. An MRT has one coach with medical facilities and one driving car with the engines. They were made by RCF. ICF also plans to make three-car accident-relief / medical-relief rakes.
Accident Relief Medical Vans (classification ARMV) are diesel-powered. In some cases they were converted electric multiple unit vehicles (eg old dc emus from the Bombay area are used as ARMV's on Konkan Railway), with a diesel-generator set added. Usually two such emu units are coupled, one supplying the power and the other converted to house an emergency medical-treatment facility, where the diesel-generator supplies power for airconditioning, etc. The hospital units have emergency medical equipment and surgical facilities. Usually, they also have accommodation (hospital beds) for up to 12 patients on board. ICF usually refers to these coupled units as ARTV. Max. speed 95 km/h.

On Saturday I had my boat in a grand fleet parade for the last day of PS Marion's 50th anniversary recreation its 'final' voyage, Berri - Mannum in 1963. Then it was escorted into Mannum by a fleet of private launches, and on Saturday large commercial boats and medium and small vintage launches did the same. There was an afternoon of festivities at Mary Ann park. I explained my HCVC project to the St John officers, and was granted an interview and the chance to take photos unhurriedly. This Ford is based at Murray Bridge. As well as all of the usual crowd events (fainting, heat exhaustion), this unit attends frequent motocross events, and is often treating injuries from falls. It has nearly-all full-ambulance equipment.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

A 21.6.13 Melbourne Herald Sun news item rather than a photo today.
Nomally I would run this through ocr, but my Adobe pro doesn't work with Windows 8.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Tatra
In post 553 with the stretcher side on is that to fit more in

Your guess is good as mine:)

.....i guess Israel has always had an abundance of various ambulance types, as there has always been a good reason to need 'em....

....hopefully one day the whole region may calm down ....

Yep, they certainly have a bit of work to do there in addition to the "usual" stuff. As for calming down I'd say not in our lifetime unfortunately...

Here's that "Aussie" Mitsubishi again at work earlier this week, courtesy of the hnn site:



The Hebrew words say "paramedic supervisor". I believe the scheme on the Mitsubishi and the Chev below is the new one they will be changing to.



Do we have a thread for police vehicles by the way? The woman is trying to explain why she knocked down the biker I believe...



Not sure how he got the tipper to fall on its side, but the driver escaped with only light injuries this time



Last one for today, Israeli emergency services always used a mixture of US and EU vehicles - there are still many older MBs in service.

A 21.6.13 Melbourne Herald Sun news item rather than a photo today.
Nomally I would run this through ocr, but my Adobe pro doesn't work with Windows 8.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Roderick,

Interesting - I never heard about anything similar here (Austria, where there are many such MBs in service) - it's only speculation on my part, but it may have to do with weather conditions in Oz (although from what I remember from my 1987 visit, Vic is relatively cooler than up north?). I know, for example, about similar problems with Volvo coaches in Israel which are normally reliable in other, cooler regions, so...

I can't offer any insight into the Mercedes problem, but Victoria is just as hot in summer as other parts of Australia: Melbourne will have most days above 30 deg through summer, many in the high 30s, and some in the low 40s. The year with a few 44-45 days was newsworthy. Inland Victoria will beat 40 often.

Israel has been a very interesting component of this thread, mainly because of the huge diversity, with donations from so many countries, and each sending its own.
With ambulance services being state based, there must be more diversity within Australia than has been posted so far, notably WA.

Another vision-test vehicle today. This one was for the 1067 mm tracks of South Australian Railways.

690528W Peterborough SA vision-testing car 86. R Smith

This was at a time when the 1067 mm gauge was being converted; I suspect that the carriage had been withdrawn. It was standing on dual-gauge 1067 mm & 1600 mm track. By then, there was also 1435 mm gauge through Peterborough, but not in this zone.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

This one popped up on flickr.
I can't get the make/model/year, but the grille and badge will be instant giveaways for others.

It isn't my photo, so have just the link.
< www.flickr.com/photos/bunncakes/88550041...ickr-layout-sucks> ;

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Roderick,
The one in your last link is based on a Buick (probably Fleetmaster) circa 1948. They were adapted by an ambulance body builder in the States and were 'sectioned' (ie cut horizontally along the body) and made taller by welding in a few extra inches along the full length of the body. They then did the same thing to the bonnet to help keep it all in proportion.

Thanks for that.
I was going to hazard Buick, but there was only one 'porthole', not three. The writing across the grille seemed much longer than five letters.
I did check Sidney: there is one in Ohio (USA), and one on Victoria Island (British Columbia, Canada).
I guess that this one is Ohio.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

I can see what you mean Hoarder, man that would be some work in doing that.

I can see why flickr members are dropping like flies: it is unusable.

Yesterday, I thought I'd test what flickr brings up under 'ambulance'. The new look is useless, and slow. It kept creaking along with fresh scrolls, and I abandoned the hunt after 20 min.
Most of the ambulances shown were modern delivery-van style, with just a sprinkling of older converted saloons.

This one jumped out: Ambulance trams in Australia.

<www.flickr.com/photos/27331537@N06/3293684627>
Ambulance Tram, c1915.
Ambulance Trams - used to convey wounded military personnel from Woolloomooloo Wharf to Randwick Military Hospital.
Digital ID: 17420_a014_a0140001138
Here is some info from our catalogue, Archives Investigator, about the Railway and Tramways Ambulance Corps:
"...The Commissioner for railways established the Railway and Tramways Ambulance Corps in 1885. The purpose of the service was to conduct training for railway staff in first aid techniques at metropolitan and rural centres to ensure that basic medical treatment could be provided to staff and the travelling public. Topics covered by the early classes included anatomy, bandaging, treating of wounds, arresting haemorrhage and transport of the injured and sick. ..."
Here is the link to some Ambulance Corps info from our catalogue, Archives Investigator.
If the link doesn't work you can do an "Agency" search from here using the keywords "ambulance corps" in the title field.
We have also uploaded a Flickr set called Railway Ambulance Corps I used the Agency search with "Ambulance Corps" and found plenty of useful information.
The photo was taken at the Randwick Tramway Workshops. Everything looks very fresh - just after the Cs 31 and 44? were converted?
There is a tiny fragment left of the tram line which branched from Belmore Rd (Coogee line) into the (then) Randwick Military Hospital (originally a state orphanage and now part of Prince of Wales Hospital.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor