As October begins, it feels like the right time to revisit one of Waterloo’s more unusual chapters – the London Necropolis Railway, sometimes called London’s ‘death train. A railway built for the departed.
By the mid-1800s, London’s graveyards were overflowing, with some so packed that gravediggers had to cut into coffins just to make space. Parliament responded with the Burials Act of 1851, banning new central London burials and paving the way for a bold solution: a vast new cemetery outside the city, and a railway to carry coffins and mourners there.
On 13 November 1854, the Necropolis Railway made its first journey from a private terminus next to Waterloo (then Waterloo Bridge Station) to Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. The station had its own waiting rooms, mortuary, chapels, and even separate entrances for different groups of mourners. Coffins travelled in special carriages, while families followed in adjacent ones – divided, by class and religion.
For decades, funeral trains departed daily. First-class tickets allowed families to choose a prime burial spot and erect a memorial; third class was reserved for paupers’ funerals, funded by the parish.
By the 1930s, demand had dwindled. Then, during the air raids of April 1941, the Waterloo terminus was badly bombed. The company never rebuilt, and the line formally closed on 11 May 1941.
Traces remain: the facade of the second Necropolis terminus still stands at 121 Westminster Bridge Road, now Westminster Bridge House. If you look under the arches, you can still see the tiled walls of the old driveway where hearses once entered. At Brookwood, sections of track and platforms survive as memorials to this unique chapter in London’s story.
Waterloo’s streets hold layers of history like this – from The Ring on Blackfriars Road, once one of Britain’s best-known boxing venues, to Philip Astley’s circus ring, birthplace of the modern circus. The Necropolis Railway is just one reminder of how much of London’s heritage passes through our neighbourhood.
