A HISTORIC railway carriage is returning to service following a major restoration project.

A team of volunteers and several specialist companies in the Keighley area were involved in the overhaul, which began nearly a decade ago.

Now the carriage, which dates from the 1880s, is to undergo its inaugural post-refurbishment run on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (K&WVR).

It will be joined on Wednesday, June 21, by three already-restored carriages and will be hauled by an 1899-built steam locomotive.

Guest of honour is Marjorie Moran, who was born in the carriage – First Class No 279 – when it was grounded near Burnley and used as accommodation for mine workers and their families as new shafts were sunk at a colliery.

The special train will make three round trips, with passengers including sponsors of the restoration, which cost about £45,000.

“This cost does not include the many hours of work put in by our volunteer members,” said a spokesman for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Trust, which owns the six-wheeled carriage.

“The frame and its adaption cost more than £10,000 and a similar amount was needed for the bodywork timber.

“For some work, we needed outside specialists.

"A local upholsterer – Margo Avrill-Lee, of Oakworth – did the seat coverings and Metcalfe Castings, of Keighley, made a number of items for us, including door locks and grab handles.”

Most of the funding for the initiative was provided by members, but a £1,200 grant was received from the Preservation of Industrial and Scientific Materials Fund and a similar amount was raised through hiring out the pre-restored carriage for use in the BBC TV series South Riding.

The carriage was built at the Newton Heath works in around 1880, although identifying a precise date is difficult after some of the records were destroyed in a fire in the 1950s.

It is known that miners used it as accommodation in about 1910 when new shafts were sunk at Hapton Valley Colliery, Burnley.

“Miners from other parts of the country moved to Hapton to obtain work and they required places to live,” said the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Trust spokesman.

“The colliery obtained bodies from old six-wheeler L&Y carriages that were due to be scrapped to provide the accommodation.”

The carriage and its other restored counterparts are also scheduled to be in service on the K&WVR on June 25, July 2 and 23, August 6 and 20 and September 3.