Passenger Trains > Churchill's Funeral Car Going Back to UK from So Cal.

Saw this in today's Whittier Daily News:
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Churchill's funeral train being returned by club
By Jennifer McLain Staff Writer


INDUSTRY - The railcar that carried the body of late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill will return home after nearly 30 years at the Industry Hills Golf Club.

The 50,000-pound funeral railroad coach was purchased in 1965 by former Industry Councilman Darius Johnson for $980 while he and Majestic Realty CEO Edward Roski Jr. were in England.

"The railcar was going to be auctioned off basically for scrap, so we ended up purchasing it," Roski said.

It was shipped to Long Beach and remained in storage until 1979, where it went on display at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Course at the Industry Hills Golf Club. The golf club was a partnership between the city of Industry and Majestic Realty.

Now, as part of a restoration effort led by a British nonprofit organization, the Swanage Railway Trust, the funeral car will return back to its homeland.

"It's come full circle," Roski said. "But if we didn't purchase it, I don't know if it would have survived until today."

The coach, which carried Churchill's body on Jan. 30, 1965, will leave Tuesday to the Port of Long Beach, and then will depart Aug. 21 to England.

Representatives from the Swanage Railway Trust originally said they
would pay to ship it. But their fundraising efforts failed, and instead the city of Industry said they would take care of the cost.
"Even though we paid for it, it does belong in its mother country," Industry Mayor Dave Perez said. "We all agreed it deserves to go home."

The city is paying $67,000 to return the coach, including $17,000 to rig it and $50,000 to ship it.

The Swanage Railway Trust has been trying to get the coach back to England for nearly one year. It will be restored to running order for use on the Swanage Railway, a six mile-long heritage railway in Dorset, England.

It was reported in 1965 that the wooden coach served as a baggage car for the London Great Western Railway before it was taken over by British Railways. In 1940, the coach was earmarked for destruction, but was spared by Churchill, who was then prime minister.

The car was preserved because it was used to carry the body of British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed by the Germans as a spy during World War I, according to newspaper reports in 1965.

Since then, the coach was preserved at the golf course and was used to create an English theme for decoration at the St. Andrew's restaurant.

At one point, the train attracted many English visitors, Roski said. Eventually, however, interest waned.

"I don't think it was a destination point, to be quite honest," Perez said. "But it was part of the theme of the golf course."

Cool Story! Ironic, since Churchill's mother was American.-Matt

Are any of the Flying Scotsman coaches still in the States?
After the tour in the 70's they were 'stored' or abandoned in the San Francisco area, eventually at Military complex near Lathrop.

Sir Winston Churchill's Funeral Train photos from a UK website: http://www.semg.org.uk/misc/win-church_1.html

and a story from a previous TO post: http://www.nineelms.svsfilm.com/ select 'memories' and then 'Funeral Train'.

TCnR Wrote:
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> Are any of the Flying Scotsman coaches still in
> the States?
> After the tour in the 70's they were 'stored' or
> abandoned in the San Francisco area, eventually at
> Military complex near Lathrop.

The same group, the Swanage Railway Trust, also repatriated a Devon Belle observation car from San Francisco back in January as detailed in the post below. Has this car reached England or is she travelling with the funeral car?
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1320653

Check their site - http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/

Details on both cars and the two coaches repatriated from Green Bay as well.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Are any of the Flying Scotsman coaches still in
> the States?
> After the tour in the 70's they were 'stored' or
> abandoned in the San Francisco area, eventually at
> Military complex near Lathrop.

I came across the cars (seven first-class carriages if I remember correctly) in LA back in the late 70's. They were part of the main Victoria Station restaurant at Universal Studios, incorporated into the building (the aisle side of the car was removed, opening up the individual compartments as dining rooms). No idea what happened to them when the restaurant chain vaporized in the 80's.

The repatriation of the "Churchill" car does not mean that Industry Hills will have no rail cars on the property. One of the features of the golf course is a funicular railway to take golfers to different levels of the links. I tried to get a ride on it when I was there for a company function some years ago, but the "stationmaster" said it's only for golfers in electric carts--I did notice there are no seats--and Industry Hills employees.

Today, Tuesday August 14,2007 should be recorded as the day the Churchill Funeral Van finally left City of Industry for Los Angeles Harbor for its journey back to England and a home on the Swanage railway in Dorset.
The Website below has further information:

http://www.swanagerailway.co.uk/

Jim Baker, Whittier, CA