State Funerals
Although most funeral services now make use of road-going hearses rather than trains, funeral trains remain common for the funerals of heads of state; all British monarchs since Queen Victoria have been carried by funeral trains; King Edward VII and King George VI were both taken to the Windsor and Eton Central railway station for the funeral procession. Most British Prime Ministers do not receive funeral trains. However, as part of his state funeral, Winston Churchill's coffin was carried by the Southern Railway "Battle of Britain" Class locomotive Winston Churchill to Blenheim Palace. Presidents of the United States are also sometimes transported by train; Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower were all given funeral trains as part of the procession.
Canadian Prime Minister Sir John Alexander Macdonald (Canadian Pacific Railway), John George Diefenbaker and Pierre Elliot Trudeau (Via Rail) had their bodies transported by train.
On January 23, 1924, body of Vladimir Lenin was carried by funeral train to Paveletsky Rail Terminal in Moscow. Later Museum of Lenin Funeral train was established in the rail terminal building. This is now the Museum of the Moscow Railway.
Read more about this topic: Funeral Train
Famous quotes containing the words state and/or funerals:
“The most absurd apology for authority and law is that they serve to diminish crime. Aside from the fact that the State is itself the greatest criminal, breaking every written and natural law, stealing in the form of taxes, killing in the form of war and capital punishment, it has come to an absolute standstill in coping with crime. It has failed utterly to destroy or even minimize the horrible scourge of its own creation.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)
“Since the last one in a graveyard is believed to be the next one fated to die, funerals often end in a mad scramble.”
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)