Talk about a one-way ticket! The creepy 19th century train built solely to transport 2,000 corpses a year out of London

  • The London Necropolis Railway was built in 1854 to transport corpses to Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey
  • This was a solution to the issue of cemeteries in the city centre being chronically overcrowded at the time
  • It ran for 87 years, taking dead bodies and mourners to Brookwood where funeral services were held 

It's a largely-forgotten fact, but London once hosted a train built entirely for the purposes of transporting dead bodies.

Every day, at its peak from the late 1880s to the early 1900s, the London Necropolis Railway ferried more than 2,000 corpses a year from a purpose-built station near Waterloo directly to the Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey.

It was developed in 1854 in response to both a recent cholera epidemic and chronic overcrowding in London cemeteries at the time, and the service was designed to transport not just the dead, but their relatives and funeral-goers too.

The purpose-built London Necropolis Railway launched in 1854 and transported dead bodies from this station (pictured) close to Waterloo, directly to the Brookwood Cemetary in Surrey for burial 

The railway was officially in operation from 1854 until 1941, when it was decimated by the Blitz and never reopened.

Historian John Clarke has written a book on the largely-forgotten service entitled The Brookwood Necropolis Railway, and appeared in the BBC Britain series.

'It was pioneering; it was revolutionary,' he says. 

'As far as I know, it was the first use of the railway for a dedicated service from one private station, directly into a cemetery at the other end.'

It was developed in 1854 in response to both a recent cholera epidemic and chronic overcrowding in London cemeteries at the time, and the service was designed to transport not just the dead, but their relatives and funeral-goers too 

Daily journeys would start here, where coffins would be loaded onto the train in a separate carriage from the living - pictured, the London terminal after it was wrecked by World War II bombing

London mourners would generally have the bodies of their deceased taken in a hearse to the York Street station, which was reserved for this purpose alone and had waiting rooms for both upper and lower class funeral-goers. 

Possibly this is the most peaceful railway station in the three corners of the kingdom - this station of the dead 
Railway Magazine, 1904 

The nearby Waterloo tunnels often served as temporary storage for the corpses.

From there the coffins would be loaded onto the train, where they would remain in a separate carriage from the living. At the end of the 40-minute journey to the Surrey cemetery, funerals would be attended followed by refreshments including ham sandwiches and fairy cakes.

For mourners, the trip - departing in the late morning and returning in the late afternoon - cost the equivalent of £25 for a return first class ticket, and around £8 for third class. 

The London station, pictured then (left) and now (right) was reserved for this purpose alone and had waiting rooms for both upper and lower class funeral-goers, and the nearby Waterloo tunnels often served as temporary storage for the corpses

The railway was officially in operation from 1854 until 1941, and at its peak it transported more than 2,000 bodies to Brookwood, pictured today, every year

At the end of the 40-minute journey to the cemetery, pictured, funerals would be attended followed by refreshments including ham sandwiches and fairy cakes

In 1904, Railway Magazine rather poetically wrote of it: 'Possibly this is the most peaceful railway station in the three corners of the kingdom - this station of the dead.

'But this is a sad station, the saddest in our islands.'

A number of factors contributed to the demise of the railway, the first being the introduction of the motor hearse in 1909, which eventually negated the need for horse-drawn carriages and then the train.

But it officially met its end during World War II when The Blitz bombings destroyed the London station on April 16, 1941.

The station at the Brookwood Cemetery still stands today, but London's station - while its Victorian structure remains - is now empty and surrounded by office buildings.  

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