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Railway museum starts restoration project

BBC Three men are standing in front of an old railway wagon. It blue-grey and wooden, with the letters "LNWR" painted on the side in white. It is siting on a small piece of track on some stones.BBC
The wagon used to belong to London Northwestern Railway

A railway museum in Shropshire is restoring a newly-delivered 110 year-old wagon in a plan to attract more visitors.

The eight and-a-half tonne former London Northwestern Railway (LNWR) wagon now has a home at the Bishop's Castle Railway Museum.

Transported via lorry, it now sits on an 11ft (3.3m) long track plinth at the site, ready for repairs by volunteers that will take 18 months.

"We think most of the timber cladding has got to be removed, but the base is sound, the chassis is sound, the steelwork underneath, the wheels and so on, brakes, they're all sound," said Dave Thornton, who is ready to get to work.

"The rest of it needs 100% replacement, so it's going to keep us off the streets for several months," he said.

The wagon was used for a number of purposes during its working life.

Three men standing in front of a blue-grey wooden railway wagon. They all have grey hair. On the left, the man wears a beanie and grey jacket. In the centre, the man is wearing a dark gilet, and on the right, the man is wearing a green beanie and black glasses.
The restoration will take volunteers about 18 months

"The former owner bought it many years ago and he was going to restore it himself," says Dave Ethery, another volunteer.

"[But] we've rescued it, so we're doing him a favour."

The volunteers plan to eventually repaint the outside, and put the letters "BCR" - for Bishop's Castle Railway, on the side.

"The track which the wagon sits on is authentic Bishop's Castle Railway track, and it's called bullhead rail," said Mr Thornton.

"Some of the chairs which hold the track onto the sleepers are also authentic Bishop's Castle Railway chairs."

Bookshop in banana van

The society's volunteers are no strangers to restoration projects like this.

Previously, they bought and restored a Great Western Railway banana van, and turned it into a railway bookshop.

"We're already thinking about maybe getting another one or two," said Mr Thornton.

"We'd probably go for something different, like an open truck or a guard's van, to make a short train."

"It's all, of course, to attract visitors to our lovely museum."

The museum seeks to preserve the memory of the former privately-owned Bishop's Castle Railway, which opened in 1866, but closed due to bankruptcy in 1935.

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