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Necropolis Line

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evil_hippo

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Joined
9 Jun 2005
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772
Location
Lewisham
I always wondered about the necropolis line myself since I saw it in C.J. Wignall's rail atlas a few years ago.
 

Jonno2055

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Joined
9 Aug 2005
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390
Location
Essex
Thanks, I have tried google, lots of info but it doesn't explain about the train its self, im going into london tommorrow so i may be able to get a copy of the book from a place like the transport museum
 
T

Tom

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London's Necropolis train was a train which ran from London Nine Elms Necropolis station (blown up in WW2) to Brookwood, further down. It was literally a train just to carry coffins and dead bodies to the cemetry at Brookwood (next time you're on a train down that end, if you're in the DOWN, its on the left just before the station).

The station was never rebuilt, and as such, there were no more trains. It was a steam hauled service.
 

TAS

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Joined
16 Jul 2005
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246
The line was between Waterloo Neocropolis Station and Brookwood Cemetery, it opened in 13/11/1854. The original main entrance was on the North side of Westminster Bridge Road with another in Leake Street. It had a single platform with buildings by William Tite and Sir William Cubitt, the engineer. It was hidden from the L&SWR main line with a blank wall. It was re-sited in 11/2/1902 as part of the Waterloo Station reconstruction. The entrance was now on the South side of Westminster Bridge Road. The new station had two platforms, one for First Class and one for Third. These were seperated by a glass screen. There was a chapel of rest or First Class corpses only. It was badly damged in an air raid on 16/4/1941. The track level ruins survived into the 1950s but no longer exist.

There was another company and line between Kings Cross and New Southgate/Colney Hatch Cemetry, oened in 1861. The Kings Cross station looked like a church with a spire and was situated in Rufford Street.It was only demolished in the 1960s but closed in 1873. Trains operated twice weekly. At Colney Hatch there were CofE and dissenters chapels, with a spire that rose 150 foot. It was demolished in the early 20th century an redevoloped as the Standard Telephone and Cable Company.
(Theres an image in The Forgotten Stations of Greater London,1991 showng a Drummond M7)

HTH
Thomas
(Started typing before TC but finished afterwards)
EDIT: Image online for a short period @ http://essexbve.50webs.com/neocropolis.jpg (copy and paste into browser.)
 

Coxster

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9 Jun 2005
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9,244
Useless bit of info - I live 6 minutes/4 miles from where the line branched off from the mainline at Brookwood ;)
 

16CSVT2700

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4 Sep 2005
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1,837
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Gdansk
I have a book on Waterloo station which covers the history up until pre-privitisation, it has a small section on the Necropolis station and the trains. I'll see if I can dig it up
 

960012

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4 Nov 2005
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Parkstone
There is book avaiblae about it i have a feeling oakwood press did it.
 
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