h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

...I had no idea there had been a necropolis line!

I agree, fascinating. There should be some good ghost stories associated with this, surely!

Well done

I didn't know about this either. What an interesting article. Well done!

I have to agree, a fascinating little bit of history. What kind of locomotive was used for the line? If it was me, I would want an old fashioned steam train to bring me to the afterlife.

Bet you didn't know there was also a cemetary line in Sydney, Australia. The Mortuary Station at Sydney Central still exists and is a classic Gothic railway building in Regent St, and halfway between Central and Redfern. Disused now. The other end was Rookwood (yes, note the similarity of the names) Cemetary at Lidcome. This is the largest cemetary in the world. The terminus there was very chapel like and when it was demolished (early 1960's?) was moved stone by stone and rebuild in a mirror image of its original floor plan, somewhere in Canberra as a church.

It was rebuilt as All Saints Anglican Church, Cowper St, Ainslie. I used to live around the corner from it.

Last I heard, the Mortuary Station at Sydney Central could be hired for parties.

For those who are interested there are also some Tram funeral rolling stock in the Powerhouse Museum, in Sydney. Before cars, the railway (or tramway) was pretty much the only way you were going to get there. The alternative has horse and cart, and that just wasn't practical if the cemetary was way out of town. This is another example of how the railway changed the world: No longer was the effective sphere of interest/activity of a man (the Victorians don't seem to have believed in "women") limited by the distance he could ride on a horse in a day. How many were aware that the GWR effectively invented holidays at the seaside for the "common" man with the holiday specials to Torquay?