The National Railway Museum is to pay a unique tribute to Sir Winston Churchill on the 50th anniversary of his state funeral. STEPHEN LEWIS reports.
HE'S been voted the greatest Briton of all: the wartime leader whose spine-tingling oratory inspired this nation to resist the Nazis' advance across Europe and defend our islands to the last.
Perhaps Sir Winston Churchill's most famous speech was the one he gave on June 4, 1940.
"Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail," he told the nation.
"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender..."
You can hear his voice reciting those words with calm and utter conviction as you read them: and even today they bring tears to the eyes.
Sir Winston, who was succeeded as Prime Minister after the war by Clement Attlee before going on to lead the country again between 1951 and 1955, died at his London home on the morning of Sunday, January 24, 1965 at the age of 90. By decree of the Queen, his body lay in state for three days in the Palace of Westminster before a state funeral in St Paul's Cathedral on January 30.
Afterwards, the coffin was taken the short distance to Waterloo Station, where it was loaded onto a specially-prepared carriage. A special funeral train then carried the coffin and family mourners to Bladon, near Woodstock - where, at his own request, Churchill was buried in the family plot at St Martin's Church, not far from Blenheim Palace where he'd been born.
As the funeral train passed through fields and stations along the route, thousands of mourners stood in silence to pay their last respects.
The locomotive which hauled the funeral train that day on the great statesman's final journey was, appropriately enough, a 'Battle of Britain' class steam locomotive which had already been named the Winston Churchill in his honour. The carriage which carried his coffin was a humble Southern Railway goods and parcel van which had been used to carry everyday items such as bread and newspapers before being chosen to transport Churchill's coffin. Among the luxurious railway carriages which carried family and funeral guests, meanwhile, was one called the Lydia.
The Winston Churchill being restored at the Mid-Hants Railway’s Ropley works
To mark the 50th anniversary of Sir Winston's funeral, the locomotive and the parcel van which took him to his final resting place will be 'reunited' with the Lydia as part of a special display, 'Churchill's Final Journey', which will run in the National Railway Museum's Great Hall from January 30 to May 3.
The display will include archive footage of Churchill's funeral, which was televised to millions worldwide 50 years ago - and among those at the launch on Friday January 30 will be James Lester, the fireman who was on the footplate of the locomotive hauling the train back 50 years ago.
'Winston Churchill' the locomotive has long been part of the NRM's collection. But it had not been restored since the 1960s. Following an appeal launched by the Friends of the National Railway Museum, it was sent to the Mid-Hants Railway's Ropley Works in 2013, where it has been painstakingly restored to its former glory.
James Lester, who was the fireman on the footplate of the locomotive hauling the funeral train
The parcel van which carried Sir Winston's coffin, meanwhile, is on loan from the Swanage Railway Trust, and is being prepared for the display by staff at Locomotion: the NRM in Shildon.
Anthony Coulls, the NRM's senior curator of rail vehicles, said the locomotive and the carriages it hauled had earned a place in British history because of the part they played in Churchill's final journey.
"The team at Mid Hants and in our York and Shildon workshops have done a fantastic job bringing these vehicles back to the way they looked on January 30, 1965," he said. "We hope people will join us to commemorate this great national occasion."
* Churchill's Final Journey will run in the Great Hall at the NRM from January 30-May 3. For more details visit www.nrm.org.uk/churchill
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