The trains with holes in them

Trace Dominguez, Nahre Sol and Jordan Harrod discuss a question about old trains with seemingly unsafe floors.
LATERAL is a weekly podcast about interesting questions and even more interesting answers, hosted by Tom Scott. For business enquiries, contestant appearances or question submissions, visit www.lateralcas...
GUESTS:
Trace Dominguez: ‪@TraceDominguez‬, / tracedominguez
Nahre Sol: ‪@NahreSol‬, / nahresol
Jordan Harrod: ‪@JordanHarrod‬, / jordanbharrod
HOST: Tom Scott.
QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe.
RECORDED AT & EDITED BY: The Podcast Studios, Dublin.
EDITOR: Julie Hassett.
GRAPHICS SYSTEM & DESIGN: Chris Hanel at Support Class.
GRAPHICS ASSISTANCE: Dillon Pentz.
MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm ('Private Detective'/'Agrumes', courtesy of epidemicsound.com).
ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS: Josh Halbur, Ben Justice, Lewis Tough, Arun Uttamchandani, Eglė Vaškevičiūtė.
FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott.
© Pad 26 Limited (www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2022.

[@glennwillems9924]

Hi Tom, just an audio engineer's remark: The Shure SM7 is an end-address microphone, NOT a side-address type. Other than that: love your videos.

[@stephencshapiro]

This is driving me crazy

[@morpheus636]

Has been driving me crazy since he started the podcast. I just keep telling myself that its a camera trick and he's really talking into the end of it. (even thought I know I'm lying to myself)

[@grmpf]

The great thing is that nobody other than audio people can make out the audio being affected by it being done wrong, so it really doesn't matter.

[@RFC-3514]

I'm mainly a "video person" and I thought it sounded bad. But then again, I think most Shures sound bad (maybe _everyone_ is using them wrong).

[@bigphatwalrus102]

@@grmpf give anyone with working ears an a/b test and they'll notice the difference. The only reason it's not the worst thing is because some of his guests use airpods as their microphones and they sound terrible

[@BrandonFrancey]

I was aware of a-holes in trains but regular holes was new to me.

[@TrondBørgeKrokli]

I enjoyed and felt good about the atmosphere between the participants in this episode. So gentle and relaxed. Thank you all for a nice episode to catch straight after work.

[@JohnDlugosz]

I've been on a train in China, and the toilet was just a hole in the floor. They didn't have sit-down toilets like we do, just a pan that you squat over. Many people missed the hole, and shortly into the journey I found it unusable due to the smell.

[@zeronothinghere9334]

that's also a lot of toilets in China btw. It's a thing on the floor and then it flushes the floor. Idk why tbh, probably cheaper than a seat

[@version365]

Same thing with Indian trains!!

[@stephencshapiro]

Love these clips but why... why Tom, are you talking into the side of that SM7?

[@Dreju78]

Sooo... the full episode got 255k viewes while the most watched snippet got 200k less... Still makes sense to stick to just snippets? Audio podcast really getting that many listens away from YT?

[@space_anemone]

As someone who doesn't find audio-only formats at all easy to consume, I really wish there were video versions of the full episodes because I'd love to see them! I assume it's just too much editing or something?

[@Dreju78]

Theee was a post some time ago that the snippets don't get vewes so no full episodes to force ppl to watch snippets..

[@brumm3653]

I've been riding a train in a roofless carriage twice, and it was raining in one of those occasions. Didn't notice any holes, but obviously I was not looking for them. The train was more like a tourist attraction, narrow gauge, not a regular train.

[@AndrewKay]

My guess would have been: to intentionally make the noise louder in those carriages, so that people who could afford second class would be less tempted to buy a cheaper ticket.

[@sigstackfault]

suggestion: put the full episodes on youtube, but don't bother doing any editing; just the four facecams

[@caramelldansen2204]

If it wasn't unethical, I'd really like to stitch clips together to make feature-length video episodes based on the audio format... Mind you, my editing skills are next to none! :P

[@heartbeatcity23]

@@caramelldansen2204 do it

[@tomzitiger]

Bite-sized videos arent that bad imho

[@anurag_verma_youtube]

But why is he uploading them in clips? I'm curious

[@DevilboyScooby]

Title: The trains with holes in them Me: They're called windows, Tom.

[@heartbeatcity23]

According to the official statement they won't be able to release full video episodes until the audio shows are popular enough and have built up the audience for it despite the fact WE WOULD ALL TUNE IN FOR THE VISUAL OVER THE AUDIO EVERYTIME .WE WANT TO SEE TOM AND THE OTHER GUESTS, ITS VERY MUCH A VISUAL PODCAST BAKED INTO ITS DNA .

[@AbhinavKulshreshtha]

Toilet holes are still used in Indian trains. People have lost their phones, keys and wallet while doing their morning business on moving train.

[@Bloobz]

Even in France some trains' toilet are just a hole

[@markusklyver6277]

superpower by 2020... wait

[@T.Pineapples]

I made an audible gasp while I was listening to this bit at work. It just seems kinda evil to not be covered

[@TheHenirik]

Keep in mind that trains in the 1830's still only did something like 30kph, the leaders average speed in tour de france is ~40kph, so it was probably not too bad Except when its raining =)

[@leandervr]

I'm just gonna keep asking because you have to know how much me and everyone else wants to watch the full episodes. Please release the full eps on KZbin. I love this show, but listening to podcasts really doesn't work for me.

[@radovansvarc1927]

Thank you for the great show you are producing!

[@bigsarge2085]

Interesting. I and love the guests!

[@hannahk1306]

Just because they didn't bathe regularly, doesn't mean that they didn't wash! Arguably, we wash far *less* frequently nowadays (because we tend to shower instead), which they would probably find disgusting. Not having indoor plumbing, doesn't mean that you can't bring water indoors for washing in. If you want an example of this, there's a scene in "Gentlemen Jack" where her jug of washing water has iced over overnight and she has to wash in the frigid water underneath! I think "Anne with an E" may also show the jug and bowl set up designed for washing as well as things like a hair wash day and washing clothes. If you go even further back, they would have bathed and washed clothes in streams or collected water from them for washing.

[@Jcyberinc]

Obligatory full episode

[@James-wn9qc]

Seeing Trace here just unlocked memories I didn't know I had Jesus Christ

[@heartbeatcity23]

To hell with it we will edit together our own features length videos from these clips

[@tassiehandyman3090]

My late grandmother's favourite put-down for someone she didn't like was to describe them as "Third-class, because there's no Fourth..." 😂👍

[@LincolnChamberlin]

Request to put the full episodes on KZbin

[@glypnir]

It makes more sense if you understand the history of trains. Mostly they started out hauling bulk cargo, and people just started riding in the cargo carrying cars. Which were open. Plus, those Brits are nuts about open air. WW II British destroyers, even those going to Murmansk, had open bridges. No overhead but the sky.

[@dean7301]

"I was on a train ride in Germany-" all Germans in the audience, immediately: "yikes"

[@wilfriedklaebe]

In Germany, train toilets do not flush outside anymore for quite some time now.

[@sophiamarchildon3998]

Initial thoughts: it's the john, the can, the head, etc. But that would be true of the whole train, and not limited to 1830-1840s. It could have been clandestine holes made, and somewhat protected, to allow 3rd class passengers to circumvent fares/immigration/taxes/laws/etc. Such problems, upper classes would not be affected by. Then ticket checks, cargo declarations, and such would have been put in place to palliate to those problems. Trying to think outside the box, 3rd class being usually at the back, they were used as viewports to guide the train into proper alignment (de/hooking cars, stopping at stations and clearing crossings).

[@sophiamarchildon3998]

Results: no roof for 3rd class? Harsh. I get why it stopped being a thing; just think about water-induced damages, and solid water additional weight to drag along. Then, maybe, considering that those "animals" need creature comfort.

[@markusklyver6277]

Full episodes

[@iankunesky6740]

Full episodes. Or I’m not watching it

[@Sylvander1911]

Many (most?) of my city's transit buses have holes in the floor. As I live in a city known for snow, the dirty snow melt from the boots drain through those holes to the road beneath. Same situation with the residual rain in the summer/spring.

[@zara9127]

The community feels unheard Tom.

[@king_br0k]

It is unheard, give us the videos

[@LotsOfS]

At this point, the one who's unheard is Tom and his crew

[@ashardalondragnipurake]

cool i guessed right tho to be honest i did expect a roof, just a shoddy made one with leaks would expect just a tarp would keep maintenance costs down

[@TheDarkVampire666]

I’ve been on a open top bus and I could actually see how in very nice weather a open top carriage could be nice in fact in a heat wave it may be better

[@Shadow__X]

Tom, please, if you have a good reason not to post full episodes at least address us and tell us the reason

[@dmac2573]

Everyone - the reason they won't upload full episodes on KZbin is because the podcast versions have paid ad segments in them, which wouldn't work as well on KZbin. That's it.

[@timwildauer5063]

We don’t care 🙃

[@dmac2573]

@@timwildauer5063 I agree, whilst I can understand it from a business perspective, it’s not very Tom Scott-ish

[@hotelmario510]

@@timwildauer5063 thank you for proving you are a child and have no bills to pay. how nice it is to be you. in the real world adults have to make money to pay for things.

[@mercurialinterference6931]

the spotify version doesn't have ads though 😶 at this point they're just being a bit obtuse

[@jeptioak]

@@mercurialinterference6931 Well, that's just because Spotify has ads separately.

[@Lyarrah]

no no the lesson here isn't "never complain about how bad things are" it's "see how much stuff we've managed to change and improve? why stop here!"

[@DeannaGilbert616]

Sponge baths were a thing. People weren’t as stinky as people think. Just because they didn’t have running water didn’t mean they wouldn’t use what WAS available to clean themselves.

[@Cossieuk]

There also used to be a time where the seats in 2nd class where left dirty so that workers would have to pay for 1st class so that they didnt have dirty clothes when getting to work each day

[@redfrog9717]

1:54 Is it that they don’t have seats?

[@CoolAsFreya]

Little bit cheeky that the thumbnail is of a much later 3rd class train with a roof, but I get that they don't want to spoil the answer for us playing along at home

[@eshep71]

Poo choo train? Yes please!

[@aarondavis8943]

So why not have a roof? Is it really that much trouble adding the 6th side to a cube? What the hell is this?

[@ethelmini]

I wouldn't be surprised if it had nothing to do with passenger comfort. Rainwater sloshing from side to side could have tipped the carriage. The third class carriages were likely also used for livestock & other farm produce.

[@olivier2553]

And that is why you are not allowed to use the toilets while the train is stopped in a station.

[@BrianHurry]

The cars already had holes. They repurposed the cars

[@highpath4776]

The holes on the roof were to put oil lamps in

[@sw01ller]

there are no trains on the main network that let excrement out on to the tracks. its why we have such a poor stock issue at the moment. 2020 was when this came in.

[@constancestrawn1303]

Lmao seat tickets are Deutsche Bahn top secret apparently

[@wta1518]

4:16 That's rich coming from a Bri'ish "person". How's HS2 going?

[@danchristoph2255]

Thank you for putting one-question videos up. I like the bite-sized pieces.

[@muchadoaboutnothingisawesome]

that guy needs to actually ride the train.

[@muchadoaboutnothingisawesome]

scary greige apartment

[@Daisysdomain]

I was thinking that was the answer but then my brain gave me a much better image. The holes were to put your legs through and run, like the Ant Hill Mob, so if the train needed a boost the third class had to start running.

[@classicpcgaming4194]

The Railway Regulation Act 1844 is the worst thing to ever happen. Telling the poors they deserve a roof over their heads removes any impetus to pull themselves up!

[@liningpan7601]

I like audio podcast

[@johnwillis9534]

Nothing new, Fred Flinstone had holes in the bottom of his car during the stone age.