Work hard to play.

Hello,

Ahh work… I see some members enjoy a spot of gardening for I guess, a little relaxation, or the orders of the wife ! Fortunately for myself, it is a full time profession. I now have been working as a Horticulturalist since I was 17. 26 years on & I still enjoy it. I work at Sydney's Rookwood Cemetery, the largest Cemetery in the Southern Hemisphere & the largest garden Cemetery in the World, for the Anglican Trust. With over 230+ acres to maintain and that is only the Anglican Trust, let alone the other Trusts (760+ acres all up) there is never a dull moment. Weeding, pruning, garden design/implantation, arboraculture, mowing etc etc, also helping out on burials !

If anyone has ever read history of Rookwood, they would know that once there was a railway line (branch) through the cemetery, with 4 Mortuary stations dotted throughout to service the different trusts and crematorium. Not only Rookwood, but Woronora Cemetery at Sutherland in Sydney's south also had a rail link. I wonder if someone out there has modelled a mortuary station or siding on a layout ?? Yes, it sounds strange and morbid, but they were an important part of life at one stage.

Anyway, there you go. Some people garden to relieve the frustration of some aspects of railway modelling, but I go gardening so I can model railways…! Afterall, my occupation pays for the hobby I chose, and I may as well enjoy my occupation.

Cheers all,

Gary.

Hi Gary, fascinating stuff. It's a lucky man who enjoys going to work in the morning.

I have made enough churchyard type cemetery dioramas but never one serviced by a railway.
An interesting introduction there, Gary - thanks for that.

Coincidence or more than that?  Just one letter away is Brookwood cemetery, which is only a few miles from here.  It also had it's own railway to take the dead from London.

http://www.tbcs.org.uk/railway.htm

London Necropolis Railway | Paul Slade - Journalist

How about the coincidence of Brookwood and Rookwood and their railway connections. I found the links you posted very interesting, a good read. One of Sydney's early cemeteries was once located where Sydney Central Railway Station stands today…  so I guess cemeteries and the railways go back a long time ! One of the burial sites we have in the Anglican Trust is that of the first locomotive driver for the New South Wales Government Railways, way back in 1855.

Cheers, Gary.