A carriage, which formed part of a train that carried Sir Winston Churchill from his state funeral to his final resting place in Oxfordshire has arrived at Locomotion, where it will be cosmetically restored prior to being exhibited at the National Railway Museum in York in early 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s state funeral.
The carriage is a Southern Railway luggage van No. 2464 built in 1931. It was used during World War II on evacuation trains and was later put into Pullman colours in the 1960s.
Sir Winston Churchill was carried in the carriage from his state funeral in London to Oxfordshire where he was laid to rest. The train was drawn by Battle of Britain locomotive Winston Churchill.
During the journey thousands gathered at wayside stations along the route of the train to pay tribute.
Following the funeral the carriage was preserved in Los Angeles, USA in 1966 but returned to the UK in 2007 where it entered the Swanage Railway Collection.
Anthony Coulls, Senior Curator of Rail Vehicles at the National Railway Museum said, “At Shildon we have had quite a lot heritage vehicles through the workshop, including one of the iconic A4 locomotives, but we’ve had nothing before that is quite on the historic scale as this. We are looking forward to seeing the workshop team transform the carriage as it is such an important piece of British history”.
The cosmetic restoration project will begin in the coming weeks for completion in late December 2014 / early January 2015.
Shildon & District's local community newspaper.
