Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Bogelbaum, and this is another classic episode of
Speaker 1: the show. In this one, we delve into the slightly
Speaker 1: morbid but interesting history of the London Necropolis Railway, a
Speaker 1: train line that served the dead along with the living.
Speaker 1: Hey Brainstuff, laurenvogelbaumb. Here, would you ride a train with
Speaker 1: undead passengers? Or if not, what about a train with
Speaker 1: actually dead passengers? From eighteen fifty four to nineteen forty one,
Speaker 1: the London Necropolis Railway took a forty minute journey across
Speaker 1: twenty three miles that's thirty seven kilometers, carrying both the
Speaker 1: deceased and the living who mourned them to a cemetery.
Speaker 1: After departing a special station near Waterloo built specifically for
Speaker 1: the line and its passengers, the train rocked its way
Speaker 1: across the serene countryside on a route selected for its
Speaker 1: comforting views. Once arriving at the Brookwood seventy in Surrey,
Speaker 1: at the time, the world's largest cemetery and built in
Speaker 1: partnership with the railroad, funeral goers would lay their dearly
Speaker 1: departed to rest, and then have drinks and snacks at
Speaker 1: one of the cemetery's to train stations. We spoke with
Speaker 1: John Clark, author of the two thousand and six book
Speaker 1: The Brookwood Necropolis Railway. He said both cemetery stations had
Speaker 1: refreshment rooms, usually run by the wives of the station staff.
Speaker 1: The cakes and sandwiches served would probably have been homemade,
Speaker 1: and it would have been customary to eat this lunch
Speaker 1: with a cup of tea at the station before returning
Speaker 1: to London. The refreshment rooms were fully licensed, so guests
Speaker 1: could have alcoholic drinks as an alternative to tea or coffee.
Speaker 1: After this brief repast, the guests then boarded the train
Speaker 1: and returned to London. The train's passenger list a bit
Speaker 1: lighter than before. The idea may seem odd today when
Speaker 1: many of us keep the dead as far from daily
Speaker 1: life as possible, but at the time it was a
Speaker 1: popular one. During its peak, London's Necropolis Railway transported more
Speaker 1: than two thousand dead bodies a year. The number of
Speaker 1: live mourners at care reached into the tens of thousands.
Speaker 1: Even so, riding in these same train as corpses took
Speaker 1: some getting used to. Londoners initially wondered whether loading up
Speaker 1: the mourners and the deceased and transporting them on the
Speaker 1: same train was a bit too practical. The Bishop of London,
Speaker 1: when appearing before the Houses of Parliament a full twelve
Speaker 1: years before the Necropolis Railway opened, considered it improper. Clark
Speaker 1: says that the Bishop stated he would consider the hurry
Speaker 1: and bustle connected with it as inconsistent with the solemnity
Speaker 1: of a Christian funeral. Plus, there were the corporeal elements
Speaker 1: with which to contend, such as the odors and potential
Speaker 1: disease transmission of the bodies. Social mores were tested too,
Speaker 1: could the rich really ride side by side with the
Speaker 1: poor to bury their dead? And the concern wasn't limited
Speaker 1: only to people of different social classes. There could be
Speaker 1: different religions aboard, each requiring its own traditions. The solution,
Speaker 1: at least aboard the Necropolis Railway was elegant in its simplicity.
Speaker 1: Separate cars were designated by class, but all were allowed
Speaker 1: to ride, regardless of their station in life. The cemetery, meanwhile,
Speaker 1: allowed the rich and poor to be buried side by side,
Speaker 1: but sectioned separate areas for various religions. It was a
Speaker 1: workable solution for the time, and one driven by a necessity.
Speaker 1: I few could argue London's intown cemeteries were already chalk full.
Speaker 1: By the middle of the nineteenth century, Londoners were being
Speaker 1: buried at a rate of about fifty thousand a year.
Speaker 1: Previously buried bodies were sometimes removed and cremated to make
Speaker 1: room for new ones, until Parliament began closing admission at
Speaker 1: city cemeteries and shipping bodies two greener pastures, like the
Speaker 1: out of town Brookwood Cemetery, which encompassed about one thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred acres. By the nineteen twenties, motorized horses were
Speaker 1: the vehicle of choice for moving the dead, and many
Speaker 1: Londoners had access to either automobiles or one of the
Speaker 1: trains of the living that also made a stop at
Speaker 1: Brookwood Station, and in April nineteen forty one, during World
Speaker 1: War II, the London terminus of the funeral train was
Speaker 1: damaged in a German V two rocket bombing. Brookwood no
Speaker 1: longer serves exclusively as a departure spot for the dead
Speaker 1: and their mourners, but remnants of these stations are still
Speaker 1: visible if you know where to Look, how's that for
Speaker 1: living history. Today's episode is based on an article on
Speaker 1: how stuffworks dot Com that has since been lost to time,
Speaker 1: as these things sometimes are. Rain Stuff is production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com, and it's
Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Klang. For four more podcasts from my
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.