Rail enthusiasts' essays are just the ticket

Ripon Grammar School students have won praise for their wide range of first-class railway-themed essays in a competition created in memory of former deputy headmaster Michael Wallace

PUPILS from Ripon Grammar School are to enjoy a personal tour of the National Railway Museum in York after receiving prizes in an essay competition organised by the Friends of the National Railway Museum.

The competition, now in its third year, was set up in memory of Michael Wallace MBE, the Friends’ honorary secretary and a former deputy headmaster at Ripon Grammar School who died in 2018.

After teaching at the school for 34 years, Michael wanted to leave a legacy to help young people and set aside £2,500 to be shared over five years with the winners of a railway-themed writing competition.

This year’s senior category winner (years 11-13) was Olivia Briggs, 17, from Leyburn. Her essay was about the transcontinental railroad.

Pip Robinson, 13, from Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, received first prize in the junior category (years 7-10). Her essay explored the rise and fall of London’s ghost trains.

Runner up was Ryan (ShunHang) Lui in the senior category while Natasha Pointon and Anna Thody were runners up in the junior section.

Both winners received £150 with second and third place in each category receiving a prize of £50. They will enjoy their personal tour of the museum on October 14.

All essayists chose their own titles and entries covered topics including the Wensleydale, Japanese and Trans-Siberian railways.

Head of sixth form at Ripon Grammar School, Terry Fell, said he was delighted by the range and quality of the essays all of those who entered had produced.

First set up in 1977, The Friends of the National Railway Museum is a registered charity, which supports railway heritage and the work of the museum. Significant projects to benefit from the Friends’ support include the purchase and restoration of the world’s most famous locomotive, no. 60103 Flying Scotsman. For more information about the Friends of the National Railway Museum, visit: www.nrm

2024 prizewinners

Seniors

Winner: Olivia Briggs/Transcontinental Railroad

Runner Up: Ryan Lui/The Myth of the Shortest Rail Route

Juniors

Winner: Pip Robinson/The Rise and Fall of London's Ghost Trains

Runners Up: Natasha Pointon/Wensleydale Railway; Shahveer Siddiqui/Japanese Railways; Anna Thody/The Trans-Siberian Railway


Olivia Briggs

Uniting the Oceans: The impact of the 1869 Transcontinental Railway on the progress and unity of America.

“May God continue the unity of our country as this railroad unites the two great oceans of the world”. This inscription was carved into the ‘golden spike’ which marked the end of the building of the Pacific railroad on the 10th May 1869. This spike is widely acknowledged as the day America was united and is believed to be the ‘railway wedding’ (Wolmar, 2019) which united east and west America for the first time. Telegraph wires wrapped around the spike as it was driven in sent an instantaneous message both east and west. In San Fransico and New York cannons were fired and the world was put on notice: the Transcontinental Railroad was completed and America was moving to the forefront of the world’s stage. (American Experience, 2003).This spike represented the beginning of a new chapter in American history of economic superiority and domination of global trade for centuries to come. However, although this ceremonial spike expressed an idealised hope for the future, the Transcontinental railroad created much discord. This essay aims to discuss the impact that this railroad had on America and whether the reality was true to the values outlined on the ‘golden spike’. The railroad stretched nearly 2,000 miles connecting San Fransico Wharf, Sacramento to Omaha, Nebraska. This extraordinary feat of engineering completed by two companies: the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) which worked eastward from California and the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) which completed the western section. They met in the centre in at Promontory Summit, Utah where the ‘golden spike’ was installed. After a lengthy debate, about where and how the railway was to built, the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act was passed facilitating the building of the railroad. This demonstrates that even before the building of the railroad began, disunity was apparent.

The development of the railway ‘promoted the rise of the American economy’ (Jenks, 1944). Inevitably, the railroad improved economic prospects for America through the ability of more freight to be transported across the country quicker and more cheaply. This was a departure from the previous slow transportation of goods via rivers and horse and cart. For instance, someone travelling from New York to Maine would take a week in 1790 but, the same journey in 1860 would take a day by rail. (Balliet, 2013). This made the transportation of goods easier and more efficient with goods worth $50 million per year by 1880 being distributed (Kiger, 2023). This demonstrates that the railroads had profound impact on the transportation of goods effectively and could arguably be an early catalyst for consumerism as the first mail order catalogue was set up by AaronMontgomery Ward in 1872. (Kiger, 2023) This exhibits an early example of new technology influencing the habits of people and the change that it had on the economy. Goods suddenly became accessible to many more people right across the country creating unification between east and west the likes of which had never been seen before. This new way of trading progressed America’s economy towards its future as a global superpower. However, as so often happens with progress, greed and corruption becomes a driving fsctor for the facilitators creating disunity.

The ‘deeply corrupt [Union Pacific] became a vehicle to enrich its backers’ (Wolmar, 2019). This was largely at the expense of the workers and their poor working conditions. This is apparent in the Crédit Mobilier Scandal where the Union Pacific created a falsified company in order to alter contracts for financial gain. This was a symptom of post – civil war corruption and largely impacted the subjugated workers working in primitive and harsh conditions. Approximately 1,000 workers are believed to have been killed due to accidents and adverse weather conditions (Gandhi, 2021). This exploitation of labour was due to the desire to keep costs low and maximise profits for the backers including Thomas C. Durrant the Union Pacific Vice-President (Wolmar, 2019). This demonstrates that rather than creating unity, the divide between the workers and business leaders became greater than ever.

‘Despite their superlative efficiency, endurance, intelligence and dependability, the Chinese worked longer hours for less pay.’ (Fishkin, 2019). A darker aspect to the building of railway was the heightened racial prejudice which consequently caused a divide which therefore was at odds with the original values of ‘continue the unity of our country’ cited on the golden spike. The race to finish the track on time meant that the CPRR’s workforce constituted 90% Chinese immigrants who had been attracted to America after the gold rush and the promise of steady employment. Often, they were generalised by identity and all referred to as ‘John Chinaman’ by the CPRR employers. After, the completion of the railway, there was a devout call for the eradication of the Chinese, demonstrated by mass lynchings, mob attacks and destruction of property. This intensified after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act which prevented people of Chinese descent entry to America. (Lee, 2022). This anti -immigration law showed how the railroad caused divisions in society despite the fact that these people were instrumental in the creation of the railroad.

The Pacific Railroad altered the geographical population density of America and shifted the landscape by the creation of new towns along the railway. This was apparent in the ‘hell on wheels towns’ which were often dismantlable and moved according to the construction of the railway. The towns were notorious for their lawless lifestyle and the transitional nature of the temporary residence. Whilst many of them remained only temporary, some permanent towns were formed as a result for example Laramie, Wyoming. In addition, the opening up of the west caused an influx of immigration to this previously sparsely populated area of America. This increase in population of the west altered the geographic profile of the country, changing the dynamics and altered the perspectives of many individuals as it would have opened new horizons and instilled national confidence and in American strength and power. Whilst the ‘hell on wheels towns’ where disruptive the ultimate shift in population unified east and west.

The Transcontinental Railroad had devastating impacts on the environment. The railway was constructed using wooden support beams for tunnels and ties which were obtained from western forests. Due to the large expanse of the railroad, vast forest areas were devastated and local geographical features were damaged such as the Sierra Nevada mountains which were tunnelled through to allow the track to pass. This lack of consideration to the environment was not unusual for the time since development and progress were of upmost importance and environmental issues were not a consideration. However, this desire for progress had devastating consequences for America’s indigenous population. One of the most detrimental impacts of the iron road was the effect it had on native Americans and their livelihoods. The railroad crossed 15 native homelands (Gandhi, 2021) which was granted by the government for use. However, the owners of the land were tribal colonies. This also caused the decimation of the buffalo herds on which they relied for food and resources. The buffalo were easy prey to sport-hunters and millions of the animals were slaughtered and their hides shipped by rail to the eastern markets (American Experience, 2003). To resist the railway, some native Americans raided camps of workmen and sabotaged the tracks causing government intervention which resulted in the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre. Two hundred tribal people, mainly women and children, were killed. These atrocities demonstrate the impact that the government ruling had on the native lands and was the catalyst for the dispersion of native tribes. The railway provided easier access to previously native land which could now be developed in by non-indigenous settlers causing the displacement of native Americans and forcing them onto reservations. This also highlights the brutality of the government, lack of consideration of tribal land ownership and prompted the significant depletion of the buffalo in America. There is no greater illustration of the disunity the railroad caused than this.

The original statement of “May God continue the unity of our country as this railroad unites the two great oceans of the world” would superficially appear to be uniting east and west America by enabling the diversification and improvement of the economy, opening up trade links and allowing America to become a forerunner in engineering and economic trade. However, below the surface there was considerable disunity with the impact that it had on the indigenous population and increased racial prejudice against the Chinese - vital people without whom it would have been impossible to complete. Overall, the endeavour for the uniting of the oceans was the beginning of modern America. However, the disunity it created considerably lessens the positive impact of this magnificent feat of engineering. It truly was a point in history where old and new worlds collided but as with all collisions the result is not always pretty.

Bibliography

American Experience. (2003, January 27). Retrieved from The Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/featu...

Balliet, G. (2013, September). Railroads and their Effect on American Society,. Saber and Scroll: Vol. 2: Iss. 4, Article 4.

Fishkin, G. C. (2019). The Chineese and the iron road. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Gandhi, L. (2021, October 8). The Transcontinental Railroad’s Dark Costs: Exploited Labor, Stolen Lands. Retrieved from HISTORY: https://www.history.com/news/transcontinental-rai...

Jenks, L. H. (1944). Railroads as an economic force in American development. journal of econmic history, 1.

Kiger, P. J. (2023, July 25). 10 Ways the Transcontinental Railroad Changed America. Retrieved from HISTORY: https://www.history.com/news/transcontinental-rai...

Lee, E. (2022, December 19). How the Transcontinental railroad forever changed the US. Retrieved from BBC rediscovering America: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20221212-how-t...

Wolmar, C. (2019). A Short History of Trains. London: Penguin Random House.

Pip Robinson

The Rise and Fall of London’s Ghost Trains

Brookwood Cemetery near Woking is one of Europe’s largest cemeteries with more than 235,000 buried there. But what many people do not know is that there was once a real-life ghost train running from Waterloo, London to Brookwood. The London necropolis railway carried the city's ever growing deceased population in Victorian times out of what was once the world's largest graveyard. The necropolis line first opened on the 13th of November 1854.

The Victorians

The Victorians combined their love of heavy industry and heavy mourning with the opening of the London necropolis railway.

The Victorians' lifestyle was vastly different depending on which class you were. There were three different classes upper, middle, and lower class. The upper class could afford big houses and many servants, extravagant food and many more luxuries. The middle class could afford less, for example, they may have only one or two servants, lived in smaller houses, and ate less extravagant food, but still worked hard for this lifestyle. From 1801 to 1850 the population in London had doubled.

The lower class was the poorest, often only renting one room for one family, they had no servants and ate simple cheap food. It was normal for different classes not to mix as there were many differences in their lives. Not only for the living but also for the dead as how rich you were reflected what your funeral would be like. Funeral prices could be significantly different depending on the type. This rigid society shows in how the London Necropolis operated.

Why was it built

Railway companies were springing up across the country. It was normal for private companies to build and run railways. So it was quite obvious that the railways became an idea when people began to look at the number of London’s dead. Corpses had started [1].

This prompted the idea in the 1850s of a railway that could take the dead and their mourners out to the countryside where they could be buried outside the city where there was more space for graves and proper ceremonies for those who could afford them.

Where was it

The London Necropolis was at Waterloo Bridge Station (as Waterloo was known until 1886), was opened in 1848. The Necropolis went from Waterloo southwest down to Brookwood Cemetery. To the east of Waterloo. This Necropolis service ran for 87 years from 1854 until 1941.

This terminus was chosen as a perfect location for the New London Necropolis Railway.

The main entrance of the line was at Waterloo London station, so it was convenient for Londoners and their dead. The station was positioned near the River Thames which meant that the idea was that the dead could be brought from anywhere in London by river.

This photo shows the original front of the Station building, designed by Tite and Cubitt, costing £23,231[2]. It shows that Victorian Londoners were not afraid to advertise death. The entrance is clearly advertised by the company and their aim was to make as much money as possible and hiding the station would decrease their profits (all railway companies were private at this time, set up with financial help from wealthy individuals). The gates are extremely elaborate, with the name silhouetted across the top of them. It was a grand station for an innovative idea.

Picture showing the original entrance to the Necropolis Line[3]

In the first station there was a steam powered lift to take the dead and their mourners to the platform. In Society, all classes were kept separate and the layout of the station reflected this. There were separate waiting rooms for first class funeral groups but third class all waited together.

The entrance was rebuilt in the 1900s. This could have been because the Company was profitable and wanted to expand and have their own entrance (the old entrance was part of Waterloo Station and, even though death was very visible in Victorian times, I think there would have been complaints and disgust at coffins being carried through a public station past London’s commuters[4].

Picture showing the replacement entrance to the Necropolis line[5]

This entrance still exists today but the murals over the door which said Necropolis Railway have been washed away or removed, the necropolis ‘branding’ was much more subtle as I think this was the end of the era, society had changed and attitudes to death and advertising it, were changing. People were becoming more sensitive about, and less familiar with death as health improved.

Coffins and mourners were transported by train along the London and South West Railway Lines to Brookwood. The journey took about an hour. Two or three funeral trains would run each day.

Extract from Ordnance Survey map from 1873 showing ‘Woking’ Cemetery and the Necropolis Line and chapels[6].

Prices were different for living and dead passengers.

Live passengers were charged 6s in first class (£24 or 1 day’s wage for a skilled tradesman), 3s 6d in second class (£14 in modern money) and 2s in third class (£10)

Dead passengers (coffins) were charged £1 in first class (£80 in today’s money but more significantly, this was 5 days wages for a skilled tradesman, a lot of money in the 1850s and 60s). The fare was 5s in second class (£20 but still one day’s work for a skilled labourer), and 2s 6d in third class (£12) [7].

At Brookwood, the funerals were held in one of two chapels – one for Church of England people and one for non-religious or non-conformist people. This is marked on the map as the Dissenters Chapel. Each chapel was served by the railway line and had its own refreshment room.

All this showed how people from different classes did not mix in life or in death.

As well as the regular funeral traffic, the London Necropolis Railway transported many exhumed bodies during mass clearances of the inner city cemeteries. A solution to the crisis was for several of London's graveyards to clear their bodies to Brookwood and bury them in paupers graves. Nearly 7000 graves were moved from Charing Cross[8]. I think that these trains ran in the early hours of the morning to avoid people seeing bodies being packed onto trains for transport.

Although I first thought that the railway will have had to carry the cost of running these funeral trains without being able to make any profits from carrying mourners as they were only able to charge 3s for each. However 7000 bodies at 3s each was £62,000 in modern money (or 5250 days work from a skilled labourer) so could have been profitable for the company[9].

The other line

The Waterloo Necropolis Line was not the only railway for dead, as there was another one which ran from Kings Cross. Much less is known about this line as nothing survives today and very few people have written about it.

It started in 1860, six years after the Necropolis Line. The Great Northern London Cemetery Railway ran from Kings Cross to the Great Northern Cemetery (which is now called New Southgate Cemetery)[10]. This was another of the great private cemeteries set up to try and solve the problem of London’s dead.

The route started at Kings Cross Station where there was a specially built Chapel and Mortuary. The journey only took fifteen minutes, far less time than it took to get to Brookwood[11].

Picture showing Cemetery Station and Mortuary at Kings cross[12]

Like the Necropolis Railway, this was a very elab orate building. The station at Kings Cross copied a lot of the elements of the Necropolis Railway as it also had different waiting rooms for the different classes and funeral groups. However it was different in that it also had a mortuary for storing the coffins[13] which was a new idea. The Victorians often kept their dead at home but they were encouraged to use the mortuary to try and reduce disease.

The company did not have their own tracks but rented them from the Great North Railway. This meant that their train times had to fit around the other trains on the line and they had to pay rent.

At the cemetery the railway tracks accessed different chapels, like at Brookwood.

Extract from Ordnance Survey map from 1879 showing the Great Northern Cemetery and the Cemetery Station[14]

From a picture, it seems like the Victorians could even get married there![15]

Pictures

The prices were much cheaper than for the Necropolis Railway.

1st Class cost 1s 3d, 2nd was 1s and the cost of transporting a coffin was 6s[16] (one day’s labour for a skilled worker[17])

It was cheaper because it was much closer to London but also I think because it was less well known. The company ran free journeys as part of their advertising to try and increase interest[18].

However, the line was not successful.

As the company did not own their own station or tracks, they had to pay the rent for the [19]. Brookwood was much more isolated so using the Necropolis Railway was easier.

The Railway company did let people carry on using the mortuary even if they were not using the railway service which must also have meant they had the costs of this with no profits.

It ultimately was a failure because of lack of profit and no means of advertising which meant that less people knew about it so less people used it.

The end of the line(s)

The Great Northern London Cemetery Railway was very short lived, only lasting about 10 years. The last train ran in 1863. Nothing remains of the Chapel and Mortuary at Kings Cross, or the Station at New Southgate.

The Necropolis Railway lasted much longer. The last train to the cemetery departed London on the 11th of April 1941. Five days later, on the night of the 16th of April 1941, the Necropolis station was damaged in an air raid and was deemed unusable. The German bombing raid destroyed the company's rolling stock and much of the building at 121 Westminster Bridge Road. The air raid meant that there was no way to get to the platforms and the station officially closed on the 11th of May 1941.

Although the LNC continued to operate occasional Funeral services from Waterloo station to Brookwood railway station immediately north of the cemetery, the London Necropolis Railway was never used again.

The front entrance building remains visible on the London street, and at Brookwood there are derelict platforms and a length of track. One of the chapels is now a church.

Picture showing remaining tracks at Brookwood Cemetery[20].

Although the LNC continued to do occasional funerals the line was never used again. The line was barely used during the war and the London station had been wrecked so there was no way to get to the platforms.

Conclusion

I think that the development of the London Cemetery railways was a good idea. Something needed to happen to solve the public health crisis caused by the inner London cemeteries. It was a good solution at the time because death was much more openly talked and thought about in Victorians times. It would have been more normal to see coffins and mourners whilst commuting.

However I don’t think it would work today as people are more sensitive about death (this was starting to happen at the time the second Necropolis station was built) People would be much more concerned today about coffins being carried through stations and hygiene.

To conclude, I think that London’s Ghost Trains were always going to reach the end of the line.

References

Arnold, C 2006, Necropolis, London and its Dead, Pocket Books, London

Dawes, M 2000, By rail to Southgate Cemetery, Talk to the Friends of the National Railway Museum South of England Group, https://www.nrmfriends-south.org.uk/filestore/FNRMS_ViewArchiveItem.php?arctype=LEC&arcdate=2000-05-08&viewitem=Read+More, accessed April 2024

Dawes, M, 2003 The end of the line, Barnet and District Local History Society, Bristol

Channel 5 , date unknown, How the Victorians Built Britain, Season1 Episode 1: How Britain got moving, previously viewed

Mansfield, I, 2012, The dead bodies service from Kings Cross railway station, www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/the-dead-bodies-service-from-london-kings-cross-6283/ accessed April 2024

National Archives, Purchasing Power Calculator Currency converter: 1270–2017 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) accessed April 2024

National Geographic, accessed April 2024, This abandoned railway was London’s train for the dead, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/abandoned-railroad-london-train-for-dead, accessed April 2024

National Library of Scotland, 1879, Ordnance Survey 6” England and Wales: Middlesex sheet VII, www.nls.uk , accessed April 2024

National Library of Scotland, 1873, Ordnance Survey 6” England and Wales: Surrey sheet XVI, www.nls.uk accessed April 2024

National Library of Scotland, 1873, Ordnance Survey 6” England and Wales: Surrey sheet III, www.nls.uk , accessed April 2024

Unknown, 2021, On the London Necropolis Railway, the London Underground, and Plague Pits, https://sarahsdeepdives.blogspot.com/2021/08/on-london-necropolis-railway-london.html, Accessed April 2024

BBC News, 2023, Necropolis Railway: The railway trip where only some returned https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66507599 accessed April 2024,

Nedeub, 2009, The section of track outside the present Brookwood Station that commemorates the Brookwood Cemetery Railway run by the London Necropolis Company from 1854 to 1941,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BrookwoodCemetaryRailway.jpg, Accessed April 2024

Perrin, 2013, Kings Cross cemetery station and mortuary Randell’s Road, https://kingscrossenvironment.blog/2013/07/30/kings-cross-cemetery-station-and-mortuary-randells-road/ Accessed April 2024

Clarke (2006). The Brookwood Necropolis Railway. Locomotion Papers. Vol. 143 (4th ed.). Usk, Monmouthshire: The Oakwood Press. p. 26. ISBN 0 85361 655 8., uncredited, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31963613, accessed April 2024

[1] Arnold, 2006, Necropolis, p160

[2] Arnold, 2006, p165

[3] Clark, 2006, Wikipedia, accessed 26 April 2024

[4] Clerk, 2006, p166

[5] Clark, 2006, Wikipedia, accessed 26 April 2024

[6]National Archives of Scotland, 1873, Accessed April 2024

[7] National Archives, Accessed 27 April 2024

[8] Wikipeadia

[9] Currency converter.

[10] Dawes, 2000

[11] Dawes, 2003, p49

[12]Perrin, 2013, Kings Cross Environment Blog

[13] Dawes, 2003, p25

[14]National Library of Scotland, 1879, accessed April 2024

[15] Dawes photo

[16] Dawes, 2003, p45

[17] National Archives Purchasing Power Calculator, accessed April 2024

[18] reference

[19] Dawes, 2003, p49

[20]Nedeub, 2009, Wikepedia

List of entrants

List of entrants:

Olivia Briggs - Y12

Ryan Lui - Y12

Natasha Pointon - Y 9

Anna Thody - Y9

Tabby Riddler - Y 8

Neive Young - Y8

Amaya Edwards - Y8

Pip Robinson - Y7

Vlad Danila - Y9

Manuella Hale - Y7

Caitlin Ostler - Y9

Sahana Kathikeyan - Y7

Hayley Chung - Y9

Rosie Harrison - Y8

Caitlin Drummond - Y8

Eunice Elisha-Aboh - Y8

Shahveer Siddiqui - Y7

Kelechi Ejiogu - Y8

Thomas Shaw - Y7

Theodora Brodie - Y8