A CARRIAGE, which formed part of a train that carried Sir Winston Churchill from his state funeral to his final resting place, will be restored in the region.

The Southern Railway luggage van no. 2464, which was built in 1931, has arrived at Locomotion: The National Railway Museum at Shildon, to be cosmetically restored.

Once the work has been completed it will be exhibited at the National Railway Museum, in York, early next year to mark the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s state funeral.

The carriage was used during the Second World War on two evacuation trains and it was later put into Pullman colours in the 1960s.

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.

Churchill was laid to rest in the parish churchyard of Bladon, close Blenheim Palace where he was born 90 years earlier.

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.

It is on loan to the National Railway Museum from the Swanage Railway Trust as will be exhibited as part of an exhibition to mark the 50th anniversary of Churchill’s State Funeral on January 30, 1965.

Anthony Coulls, senior curator of rail vehicles at the National Railway Museum, said: “At Shildon we have had quite a lot of heritage vehicles through the workshop at Shildon 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 and is expected to be completed by early January.