subs. phr. (popular).—Generally, the funeral trains to Brookwood, Kensal Green, and other cemeteries. Specifically, the last train at night per S.W.R., by which officers can reach Aldershot in time for their morning duties. It starts about 2 a.m. from Nine Elms, and is properly a goods train, but a carriage is attached which is known as the ‘Larky Subaltern.’ [It is an error to suppose that this particular train received its nickname for taking corpses to Woking Cemetery. It carries nothing more dreadful than a portion of the beef and mutton for the morning ration to the troops in camp; and, as before stated, a few belated officers.]
1876. R. M. JEPHSON, The Girl He Left Behind Him, ch. xi. The train by which Dorrien journeyed to Aldershot was that one known as the COLD-MEAT.
