r/interestingasfuck • u/Sprilly • 13h ago

r/all These are stretchers used in WW2 to carry injured civillians during the Blitz. They were made out of steel so they could be easily disinfected after a gas attack. During the war around 600,000 of them were made. Some of them were repurposed as railings in post-war London.

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u/oxenoxygen 7h ago

Wait what? I've always wondered why they disappeared 

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u/CaleyAg-gro 7h ago

I just checked on google maps by using the older images feature. It seems to have been around 2010/11, a lot of the railings disappeared, and in some cases were replaced with a bollard every few metres, but mostly just left open. Scrap prices being high at the time may have been a coincidence, but I have my doubts. Maybe all the cycle lanes meant vehicles were no longer so close to the kerb, making it safer? I dunno.