Description
After his State Funeral at St. Pauls Cathedral, Sir Winston Churchill’s body was moved by train to Handborough station via train before being taken to St. Martin’s parish churchyard in Bladon to be buried. The actual carriage used was Southern Railway luggage van No. 2464. Built in 1931, the carriage had an uneventful life until it was taken out of service in 1961. In 1962 the carriage was repainted into Pullman colours and stored in Stewarts Lane carriage sheds until Churchill’s funeral in 1965.
After its use as part of the funeral train, the carriage was shipped to California where it served as a historical display before returning to the UK for refurbishment at National Railway Museum in Shildon. More recently, the carriage has been moved to Margate, just metres form Hornby’s Margate offices, where it is hoped it will be displayed to the public in the future. This model depicts the funeral carriage as it would have been in 1965 at the time it was used as part of Winston Churchill’s funeral train.
