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Jul. 28th, 2004 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingCITY OF THE DEAD
When LNC drew up its original plans for Brookwood, it hoped to create a cemetery big enough to take all of London’s dead for centuries to come. In the words of Andrew Martin, author of the Brookwood-set thriller The Necropolis Railway, "the idea was that it would take everyone who died in London. It would simply be an alternative London - for the dead."
While LNC never came remotely close to fulfilling that ambition, it did continue to expand the Necropolis service throughout its first 50 years. In 1855, cellars were added to the two cemetery stations, allowing their existing coffin reception areas to be turned into Third Class waiting rooms. In 1864, a brand-new mainline station called Brookwood was opened, which stood directly opposite the cemetery’s entrance and allowed normal passenger trains to stop there. In 1899, two larger coffin vans were built for the service, each capable of carrying 24 coffins instead of the original 12.
When LNC drew up its original plans for Brookwood, it hoped to create a cemetery big enough to take all of London’s dead for centuries to come. In the words of Andrew Martin, author of the Brookwood-set thriller The Necropolis Railway, "the idea was that it would take everyone who died in London. It would simply be an alternative London - for the dead."
While LNC never came remotely close to fulfilling that ambition, it did continue to expand the Necropolis service throughout its first 50 years. In 1855, cellars were added to the two cemetery stations, allowing their existing coffin reception areas to be turned into Third Class waiting rooms. In 1864, a brand-new mainline station called Brookwood was opened, which stood directly opposite the cemetery’s entrance and allowed normal passenger trains to stop there. In 1899, two larger coffin vans were built for the service, each capable of carrying 24 coffins instead of the original 12.