Book Review: Empire’s Tracks: Indigenous Nations, Chinese Workers, and the Transcontinental Railroads by Manu Karuka

Abstract

sion in the main text. This is where we’re treated to Wheatley’s complaint that Bachmann refused his request to modify the 00 gauge tooling of one of their wagons to accurately replicate the hearse van that carried Edith Cavell as “not worthwhile”. To be honest, I can see where Bachmann were coming from here. While a section on modelling is always welcome (writing as a railway modeller myself), this is a chapter that really belongs in an appendix. I’ll add, though, that the recent news that Hornby have produced an accurate model of Winston Churchill’s hearse van will probably be well received by those with an interest in modelling an accurate funeral train. We then have a chapter on “quirks and curiosities” followed by an overview of the end of funeral trains on the mainline railways and their use on the preserved railways. The latter suffers from feeling like a large number of obituaries that don’t really add too much to the main narrative and got somewhat dispiriting to read at points. Ultimately, Final Journey is something I would recommend. It’s a fascinating book packed with content that you’ll struggle to find elsewhere at a very reasonable price. It describes itself as not an academic book, but the depth of research here is very impressive, with good reference to a wide range of primary and secondary sources. However, it is also a book that could have benefitted from some stronger editing and a shorter length. While I can’t fault Wheatley’s enthusiasm, at points the book loses focus on funeral trains themselves by providing a lot of tangential detail. Despite this, it’s a book that’s well worth a spot on your bookshelf; you won’t find something like it anywhere else.