‘Funeral Trains and Final Journeys’, by Nicolas Wheatley, 5th November 2024
5th November 2024 Meeting.
On Guy Fawkes night we welcomed Nicolas Wheatley from Cheltenham, for his unusual talk on ‘Funeral Trains and Final Journeys’.
This lavishly illustrated presentation covers the use of railways within the British Isles for the transportation of the dead for functional and ceremonial purposes from 1840 to the present day.
A wide range of people were transported by train to their final resting place, including royalty, aristocracy (notably Sir Winston Churchill), the victims of many train accidents, the victims of two major airship accidents (the R38 in 1921 and the R101 in 1930), and countless other ordinary people, some named and many unknown.
We saw handcarts in the early days and then corpse/hearse vans all owned by the different railway companies.
We finished the evening with some USA Presidents’ funeral trains, the latest being George HW Bush.
He also explained when and why the transport of the dead on the mainline ceased, for example, the Waterloo Necropolis Station closing in 1941 due to bomb damage, together with details of how and why the activity continues on heritage railways.
Brookwood Cemetery was explained in full, with its two stations which were reached by a shunt just past Brookwood Station and propelled in. The south station still exists as a monastery and the monks have a small, dedicated railway room inside, which for a small fee they will let you visit. Also featured was the Edith Cavell Van which is now preserved on the K&ESR.
An interesting subject for an educational and entertaining talk. It was held in the dead centre of our meeting room and the 25 members and guests were dying to get in.
Rob Davidson, Branch Secretary